THE.       .SCIENCE       O  T 

A   IN  D      AC   COUNT    I     IN    G 


C  tt  A  .S.    A 


Science 

-OF- 

Coosc  Ccaf  Book -Keeping 

—AND— 

flccotmting. 


GHAS.  A,  SWEETLAND, 

PUBLIC  ACCOUNTANT. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  AUTHOR 

Cbas.  H.  Swcetland, 

Century    Buildimj,     St.    Louix,    Mo., 
P.  O.  Box  838. 


First  Edition  April,   1903 

Second  Edition  December,  1903 

Third  Edition  February,  1904 


SPRECKELS 


COPYRIGHT,  1902,  BY 
CHAS.  A.  SWEETLAND, 

St.  Louis  ^  Mo. 
All  Rights  Reserved. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

Loose  leaf  book-keeping  is  a  development  of  very 
recent  years.  It  is  an  evolution  from  the  necessity 
of  pinning  several  important  sheets  together  to  pre- 
serve their  continuity.  Like  any  other  of  the  world's 
best,  and  most  modern  methods  it  was  American  in 
its  birth,  and  has  been,  so  far  in  its  existence,  almost 
exclusively  American  in  its  use. 

The  conservatism  of  the  old  world  has  as  yet 
prevented  any  general  application  of  the  idea  to  the 
business  methods  there.  It  has  come  to  stay  how- 
ever, and  will  gradually  spread  throughout  the 
entire  accounting  system  of  the  world. 

Primarily  the  term  Loose  Leaf  as  applied  to  book- 
keeping, means  books  from  which  leaves  may  be 
removed,  or  in  which  leaves  may  be  inserted  at 
pleasure,  as  distinguished  from  bound  books  in  which 
the  leaves  are  sewed  and  thus  permanently  fixed. 
The  same  general  rules  apply  in  double  entry  book- 
keeping, whether  bound  or  loose  leaf  books  are  used. 
In  the  keeping  of  books  on  the  loose  leaf  plan,  how- 
ever, many  details  can  be  changed  and  a  number  of 
advantages  gained  by  which  a  great  saving  of  time 
and  labor  is  effected,  and  accuracy  assured. 

A  beautiful  mosaic  may  be  arranged,  each  piece 
dovetailing  perfectly  with  its  fellow,  thus  making  a 
system  which  would  be  impossible  to  devise  if  bound 
books  were  used. 


The  public  accountant  and  expert  must  recognize 
the  new  arrival  because  they  are  expected  to  be 
always  able  to  meet  existing  conditions. 

Those  who  are  now  using  loose  leaf  books  can 
double  their  value  if  they  know  just  how  to  best 
adapt  them  to  their  business ;  how  to  get  the  most 
perfect  results  from  the  least  labor. 

The  book-keeper  must  inform  himself  thoroughly 
upon  this  system  of  book-keeping  or  his  position  will 
be  in  jeopardy. 

Schools  and  business  colleges  must  teach  the  loose 
leaf  accounting  system,  or  fail  to  be  up  to  date. 

Auditors  and  accountants  everywhere  need  a 
knowledge  of  the  proper  use  of  this  system  as  they 
must  meet  it  in  their  business. 

Proprietors  and  managers  desire  information  of 
its  advantages  or  disadvantages,  so  that  they  may  be 
able  to  act  intelligently  in  bettering  their  accounting 
methods. 

Hence  the  necessity  for  this  work. 

To  point  the  way  in  as  simple  a  descriptive  manner 
as  possible  is  the  object  of  this  book.  The  author's 
experience  with  every  known  system  of  book-keep- 
ing enables  him  to  speak  with  authority  as  to  this, 
the  latest  method  of  accountancy. 

The  information  given  within  is  applicable  to  loose 
leaf  book-keeping  no  matter  what  make  of  binders 
and  leaves  arc  employed.  It  embodies  the  principles 
of  the  most  progressive  book-keeping  methods  and  is 
thoroughly  up  to  date. 


The  Science  of  Loose  Leaf  Book-Keeping  and  Accounting 


CONTENTS. 

Chap.                                                                                              Page. 
Index  of  Forms   " 6 

1  Loose  Leaf  Accounting  Systems.  Their  Advantages      9 

2  The  Loose  Leaf  Ledger.  How  to  open  and  how  to 

use  it 16 

3  The  Loose  Leaf  Ledger— continued.  Rulings 25 

4  The  Loose  Leaf  Ledger — continued   40 

5  Indexing.     Alphabetical — States    and    Towns — Nu- 

merical— Special     47 

6  Loose  Leaf  in  the  Voucher  System 63 

7  Loose  Leaf  Cash  Books.    The  Advantages    of    the 

Perpetual    System    76 

8  Loose  Leaf  Journals.    How  to  operate  them -...     86 

9  Special  Books,    Including  Account  of  Sales,    Com- 

parative Statement  Books,  Payrolls,  Time 
Books,  Cost  Accounting  Books,  Perpetual  Trial 
Balance  Books,  Purchase  Record,  etc.,  etc....  92 

10  Loose  Leaf  Books  in  Banks  and  Trust  Companies.     114 

11  Loose  Leaf  Books  in  Insurance,  Stock  Brokers,  Tel- 

ephone, Telegraph  and  Water  Companies,  Gas 

and  Electric  Light  Companies,  etc.,  etc 128 

12  Loose  Leaf  Books  in  the  Installment  Business 144 

13  Loose  Leaf  Books  in  Wholesale  Houses 151 

14  Loose  Leaf  Books  in  Retail  Houses,  where  a  credit 

business  is  done 163 

15  Loose  Leaf  Books  in  Manufacturing  Plants 172 

16  Loose  Leaf  Books  in  the  Transportation  Companies  180 

17  Loose  Leaf  Books  in  the    Lumber  Business 187 

18  Loose  Leaf  Books  in  Municipal  Work 191 

19  Statements   200 

20  The  Bill  and  Charge  System 204 

21  Odds  and  Ends.    How  to  save  money  in  Business. 

The  Long  Way  and  the  Short  Way.    Various 

Suggestions    211 

Topical  Index . .  237 


LOOSE    LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 

INDEX  OF  FORMS. 


Desiring  to  show  form  as  large  as  possible,  only  the  ruled 
portion  is  given.  Loose  leaf  binders  hold  the  leaves  to- 
gether by  clamping  them  tightly,  over  posts  and  devices 
of  different  patterns;  hence  in  making  up  a  form  for  copy, 
from  one  and  one-half  to  two  and  one-half  inches  must 
be  left  blank  at  the  left  of  the  form  to  provide  for  bind- 
ing space.  The  punching  of  the  leaves  to  fit  over  the 
posts,  and  the  device  to  produce  a  flat  opening  effect  is 
in  this  space,  which  is  not  used  for  any  writing. 

No.  Name.  Page 

1  Ledger— Center  cols 26 

2  Ledger,  Center  cols.,  Double  bal  28 

3  Ledger,  Outside  cols.,  Double  bal 30 

4  Ledger,  Double  Dr.  col 32 

5  Ledger,  Retail  Item  34 

6  Ledger,  Sundry  or  Petty  Account. 36 

7  Ledger,  Center  cols 38 

8  Voucher   Record,   Leaf    72 

8  Voucher  Record  Leaf  (Continued)   . . 73 

9  Cash  Leaf,  Receipts  82 

10    Cash    Leaf,    Disbursements    82 

12  Ledger,  Extra  Item 40 

13  Cash  Journal    90 

14  Sales  Record   94 

15  Purchase  Record 94 

16  Building  and  Loan  Register  100 

17  Secret  Society  Ledger  102 

18  Seed  Distribution  Record  100 

19  Lumber  Call  Book 189 

21  Box  Making  Record  Ill 

22  Bank  Ledger,  Small  116 

23  Bank  Ledger,  Large 117 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  7 

No.  Name.                                                  Page 

24  Statement  Daily  Balance  118 

25  Note  Register  120 

26  Discount  Ledger,  Bank  121 

27  Balance  Book,  Bank  121 

28  Daily  Balance   (Patent)    126 

29  Policy  Record,  Insurance  132 

30  Expiration  Record,  Insurance  132 

31  Water  Company,  Ledger   138 

32  Electric  Company,  Ledger 177 

33  Gas  Company,  Ledger  142 

34  Telephone  Company,  Ledger    140 

35  Physician's  Ledger  218 

36  Corporation  Cash  Journal   218 

37  Transfer  Index  Card 224 

38  Bond  Register    226 

39  Foreign  Shipment  Register 226 

40  Real  Esate  Loan  Register   228 

41  Newspaper  Advertising  Ledger  228 

42  Telephone  Register 177 

43  Peculiar  Ledger  Ruling   232 

44  Profit  and  Loss  Register 230 

45  Department  Sales  Record 232 

46  Special  Assessment  Warrant  Register .195 

47  Order  Form  234 

48  Voucher  Record  173 

48    Voucher  Record  (Continued)    173 

Topical  Index   237 


CHAPTER  i. 

LOOSE  LEAF  ACCOUNTING  SYSTEMS, 
THEIR  ADVANTAGES. 

No  improvement  since  the  introduction  of  double 
entry  book-keeping  has  been  of  such  importance 
as  that  of  the  removable  leaf  systems  in  accounting 
books. 

Like  other  changes  the  introduction  of  this  system 
has  met  with  violent  opposition,  especially  from  three 
classes — the  non-progressive  book-keeper,  the  over- 
cautious business  man  and  the  makers  of  sewed 
books ;  but  the  large  number  of  enterprising  firms, 
who  are  now  using  perpetual  accounting  systems, 
and  the  general  movement  of  the  banks  in  this  direc- 
tion have  almost  demoralized  the  "objectors"  and 
rendered  their  efforts  as  useless  as  Don  Quixote's 
famous  tilt  against  the  windmills. 

The  opposition  of  the  N.  P.  B.  comes  mainly  from 
the  fact  that  he  don't  know  the  advantages  accruing 
to  himself  from  the  use  of  loose  leaf  books  and  he 
is  too  lazy  to  learn. 

As  an  instance  one  of  this  kind  was  asked  if  he 
knew  about  the  loose  leaf  system  and  he  replied,  "No 
I  don't  know  anything  about  it  and  I  don't  want  to." 
When  an  endeavor  was  made,  in  spite  of  his  curtness 
to  explain  some  of  its  most  salient  features,  he  said : 

"You  might  as  well  save  your  breath — I  would  not 
make  a  change,  even  if  I  KNEW  it  would  save  me 
time." 


10  LOOSE    LEAF    BOOK-KEEPING. 

The  over-cautious  business  man  is  he  who  is 
constantly  in  fear  that  his  books  may  be  manipulated, 
afraid  that  loose  leaves,  would  be  flying  around  the 
office  like  a  flock  of  pigeons  or  that  the  book-keeper 
in  a  fit  of  absentmindedness,  would  use  a  page  of  the 
ledger  for  a  handkerchief.  He  is  a  back  number 
now,  but  still  in  evidence.  It  is  he  who  has  raised  the 
question  of  the  loose  leaf  ledger  in  court. 

This  question  is  one  which  will  not  be  considered 
seriously  by  the  well-informed  bookkeeper  or  busi- 
ness man.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  the  book  of 
original  entry  and  even  if  it  were,  the  fact  that  nine- 
tenths  of  the  firms  now  use  the  bill  and  charge 
system,  filing  their  loose  sheet  charges  in  an  order 
binder  would  show  that  any  properly  kept,  consecu- 
tive record,  either  by  date  or  number,  is  admissible 
in  any  court  of  the  United  States. 

I  will  not  enumerate  the  disadvantages  of  other 
systems,  but  will  briefly  take  up  the  advantages 
claimed  and  proven  for  the  loose  leaf  ledger. 

First,  the  elasticity  of  the  account.  No  more  long 
pages  and  short  pages,  no  more  giving  a  man  an 
eighth  when  he  should  have  had  a  half,  no  more 
double-double  to  utilize  space.  The  loose  leaf 
adjusts  itself  to  the  occasion,  whether  an  account 
contains  one  item  or  ten  thousand.  This  fact  in 
itself  ought  to  prove  the  usefulness  and  practicability 
of  the  system,  but  there  are  others. 

Second.  This  ledger  is  perpetual.  After  you  have 
once  opened  your  ledger  you  can  take  a  long  breath, 
for  you  will  never  have  to  open  another.  If  a  man 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  11 

who  traded  with  you  six  years  before  again  renewed 
his  business  dealings,  his  account  leaf,  made  six 
years  before,  would  be  taken  from  the 
transfer  to  the  current  ledger,  and  the 
account  would  go  along  as  though  there  had  been 
no  interruption.  The  fact  that  long  accounts  are  kept 
in  continuous,  consecutive  order  in  the  transfer 
ledger  enables  a  ready  reference  for  a  period  of  years, 
whereas,  if  kept  in  any  other  manner,  you  would  have 
to  pull  down  the  books,  covered  with  the  accumulated 
dust  of  ages,  and  examine  many  of  them,  and  often 
many  places  in  each. 

Third.  The  loose  sheet  can  be  fully  used  while 
with  bound  books  at  least  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the 
space  is  wasted. 

Fourth.  The  saving  of  time.  This  is  so  import- 
ant that  it  might  have  been  considered  first.  With 
the  loose  leaf  system  full  pages  and  balanced  accounts 
are  transferred  at  given  periods  (once  a  month  being 
often  enough)  to  the  transfer  ledger  which  is  a 
duplicate  of  the  regular  or  current  ledger  in  index- 
ing features.  The  elimination  of  these  dead  accounts 
renders  the  taking  of  a  balance  a  very  easy  matter 
without  the  liability  of  passing  open  accounts.  As 
one  leaf  is  reserved  for  each  account  and  the  accounts 
follow  each  other  in  alphabetical  order  the  dangerous 
error  of  posting  to  a  wrong  account  (an  error  which 
makes  a  presumably  correct  balance-sheet  incorrect, 
and  which  is  extremely  difficult  to  discover)  is  entirely 
avoided.  Accounts  can  be  arranged  in  any  manner 
to  best  facilitate  posting,  and  the  salesbook  entries, 


12  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

or  the  loose  sheet  charges  can  be  made  or  assorted 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  accord  with  the  arrangement 
of  the  ledger,  thus  enabling  posting  to  be  done  in 
one  half  of  the  time  required  in  sewed  books. 

Another  point  of  importance  is  that  should  any 
change  be  necessary,  such  as  from  alphabetical 
arrangement  to  salesmen's  routes,  or  to  states,  and 
towns,  it  can  be  made  rapidly,  perfectly,  and  without 
the  stroke  of  a  pen  or  any  disturbance  of  the  equil- 
ibrium of  the  ledger  by  interchanging  the  leaves.  The 
self-indexing  feature  also  makes  the  work  lighter, 
and  on  account  of  the  expansive  properties  of  each 
account,  it  offers  better  results  in  this  direction  than 
the  self-indexed  ledger,  which,  it  is  but  fair  to  admit, 
is  an  improvement  upon  the  old  sewed  book,  with  its 
folio  and  separate  index.  An  account  can  be  found 
and  the  posting  made  in  a  loose  leaf  book  quicker 
than  the  folio  can  be  found  in  the  best  index. 

Many  book-keepers  using  this  system  have  done 
away  with  any  written  index  or  account  number, 
filing  pages  in  the  same  order  as  the  names  would 
appear  in  a  directory.  This  one  must  admit,  is  a 
great  time-saver.  There  may  be  a  question  as  to 
the  advisability  of  this  method  in  the  minds  of  some, 
but  those  who  use  it  are  lavish  in  its  praise. 

Taken  altogether  it  is  not  too  much  to  claim  that 
there  is  a  saving  of  33  1-3  per  cent  in  time  by  the 
use  of  this  system  and  as  time  is  the  most  valuable 
commodity  a  merchant  buys,  and  one  upon  which  he 
does  not  appear  to  reap  a  profit,  it  would  pay  him 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  13 

to  introduce  the  system  if  it  cost  him  ten  times  as 
much  as. any  other. 

The  facts  are,  however,  that  it  does  not  cost  any 
more  than  special,  made  to  order,  books  (in  the  long 
run),  and  costs  less  than  some  of  the  other  systems. 

By  the  use  of  loose  leaf  accounting  system  all 
congestion  of  work  at  the  end  of  the  month,  or  year, 
can  be  avoided,  as  the  books  can  be  distributed  to 
several  clerks  if  necessary,  who  can  work  upon  them 
at  the  same  time. 

The  system  can  be  augmented  or  diminished,  re- 
arranged or  readjusted  at  any  time  without  cessation 
of  business  or  transfer  of  accounts. 

Usually  firms  introducing  the  loose  leaf  system 
adopt  it  first  for  their  sales  ledgers  and  in  this 
connection  I  would  say  that  each  sales  ledger,  no 
matter  how  many  are  used,  should  be  handled  inde- 
pendently, and  each  one  separately  balanced.  This 
can  be  readily  accomplished  by  having  separate  col- 
umns for  each  ledger  in  cash  books,  and  by  keeping 
separate  sales  ledger  or  Accounts  Receivable  ac- 
counts for  each  ledger  in  the  General  or  Private 
ledger. 

The  latter  ledger  may  also  be  loose  leaf,  but  many 
firms  still  prefer  a  small  sewed  ledger  for  this  pur- 
pose, as  the  accounts  and  entries  are  comparatively 
few. 

So  far  I  have  only  considered  the  loose  leaf  system 
as  applied  to  Ledger  service,  but  I  would  say  that 
many  advantages  are  urged  for  the  use  of  the  sys- 
tem in  Cash  Books,  Journals,  Purchase  Ledgers, 


14  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

Sales  Books  (when  still  in  use),  Perpetual  Balance 
System,  Pay  Roll  Books,  Stock  Books,  Price  Books, 
Cost  Books,  Inventories,  Bills  Receivable  or  Bills 
Payable  Books  or  any  special  records,  either  neces- 
sary or  desirable  to  be  kept.  These  advantages  will 
be  taken  up  in  future  chapters. 

It  makes  the  most  perfect  note  record  in  the  world, 
especially  for  firms  carrying  a  large  number  of  notes, 
dividing  them  alphabetically  or  numerically  and  giv- 
ing a  perfect  and  permanent  record  of  partial  pay- 
ments. 

Not  many  years  ago  the  railway  passenger  trains 
of  the  United  States  were  equipped  with  chain 
brakes,  and  the  engineer  had  to  whistle  down  two 
miles  from  a  station  in  order  to  get  the  train  stopped 
anywhere  near  it.  Numerous  brakemen  had  to  be 
employed  on  each  train.  Then  came  the  pneumatic 
brake.  Wiseacres  shook  their  heads,  and  said  it 
would  never  work,  that  it  could  not  be  relied  upon; 
but  it  does  work.  The  chain  brake  has  passed  away 
entirely  for  passenger  service,  and  nearly  so  in 
freight  service.  The  improvement  not  only  proved 
beneficial  to  the  public  but  an  economy  to  the  rail- 
roads, lessening  the  number  of  men  required  to  man 
the  trains,  and  the  danger  of  accident. 

Thus  the  loose  leaf  or  perpetual  ledger  system 

ts   come    to  render    a  perfect  service,  to  lessen  ex- 
nse,  and  to  provide  a  simpler  and  safer  salient,  of 
keeping  accounts. 

I  have  never  heard  of  but  one  firm  that  had  what 
seemed  to  be  a  legitimate  objection  to  offer  against 
the  use  of  the  system  in  their  business. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  15 

The  advantages  had  been  explained  fully  and  care- 
fully to  the  attentive  gentleman.  He  finally  said : 

"Well,  it  seems  to  be  all  right,  except  for  one 
thing.  If  I  were  to  eliminate  the  dead  accounts  in 
my  business  I  should  have  to  go  into  bankruptcy." 

HE  WAS  AN  UNDERTAKER. 

In  the  purchase  of  loose  leaf  books  as  the  binder 
is  supposed  to  outlast  many  thousand  leaves,  the  fea- 
tures to  look  to  are  strength,  durability, v  ease  in 
manipulation  and  appearance.  Any  manufacturing 
stationer  can  furnish  leaves  of  equal  merit,  but  the 
main  rivalry  in  perpetual  accounting  books  is  in  the 
various  devices  patented  for  holding  the  leaves  firm- 
ly in  place  and  their  facility  in  opening  or  closing,  for 
extracting  or  inserting  leaves,  and  the  methods  of 
obviating  the  spring  or  bulge  in  the  thick  ledger 
paper  at  the  hinge  edge,  to  produce  a  flat  opening- 
effect.  These,  then,  should  be  the  points  closely 
looked  into  by  those  introducing  the  books,  for  the 
best  is  always  the  cheapest  in  the  long  run. 


16  LOOSE    LEAF    BOOK-KEEPING. 

CHAPTER  2. 
THE  LOOSE-LEAF  LEDGER. 

HOW  TO  OPEN  AND  HOW  TO  USE  IT. 

Every  book-keeper  is  familiar  with  the  regular, 
or  as  I  would  term  it,  the  otd  style  ledger.  He  knows 
its  purposes  and  its  peculiarities.  It  has  been  the 
object  for  a  number  of  years  past  to  make  improve- 
ments upon  the  old  style  le'dger,  and  to  that  end  there 
have  been  several  inovations,  in  the  shape  of  bound 
books,  arranging  accounts  in  different  manners, 
changing  the  indexing  features,  revising  and  im- 
proving several  points,  calculated  to  lessen  labor  or 
produce  better  results,  thus  making  the  book  more 
convenient  to  handle,  but  it  was  not  until  the  idea 
of  the  interchangeable  leaf  became  a  certainty  and 
the  methods  of  rapid  handling  were  evolved,  that 
the  public  recognized  the  greatest  improvement 
ever  inaugurated. 

The  essential  idea  of  the  Loose  Leaf  Ledger  and 
the  oneN  which  gives  it  its  greatest  value,  is  that  the 
working  ledger  may  be  kept  current  and  all  closed 
accounts,  rilled  pages,  etc.,  etc.,  transferred  to  another 
binder,  which  is  considered  a  book  of  reference. 
Containing,  as  it  should,  no  open  accounts,  it  bears 
no  relation  whatever  to  the  general  balance. 

As  under  the  Loose  Leaf  System,  a  separate  leaf 
is  required  for  every  account,  it  will  be  evident  that 
a  much  smaller  leaf  may  be  used  in  this  system  than 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  17 

in  the  old  style  books.  As  any  number  of  leaves 
may  be  given  to  one  account  whenever  necessary- 
there  is  no  limit  to  the  expansion.  Old  style  books 
frequently  had  six,  eight  and  ten  accounts  on  a  page, 
and  in  the  purchasing  of  a  ledger,  the  necessity  of 
large  accounts  had  to  be  considered,  and  a  space 
necessary  for  smaller  accounts  was  arranged  by  cut- 
ting up  large  pages  into  spaces  of  appropriate  size, 
no  matter  how  many  might  be  required.  As  the 
loose  leaf  theory  is  exactly  the  opposite,  it  will  be 
seen  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  provide  for  large  ac- 
counts, for  the  reason  that  no  matter  how  small  the 
page  may  be,  as  soon  as  it  is  necessary  a  new  leaf 
can  be  introduced,  and  so  continue  indefinitely,  giv- 
ing all  the  room  required  for  large  accounts,  while 
short  leaves  for  small  accounts  will  of  course  always 
be  ample. 

The  advantages  of  having  each  account  upon  a 
separate  leaf  are  many.  In  the  first  place,  it  renders 
errors  in  posting  very  unlikely  to  occur.  As  each 
account  is  absolutely  independent,  it  would  be  almost 
impossible  to  post  upon  a  wrong  leaf  while  the  op- 
portunity for  erroneous  posting  upon  a  page  where 
six  or  eight  accounts  are  clustered  together  is  ever 
present.  One  account  to  a  leaf  means  a  much  easier 
balance  sheet,  with  very  little  opportunity  for  passing- 
open  accounts.  In  fact,  with  the  Loose  Leaf  System, 
a  balance  can  be  taken  off  the  sales  ledger  without 
using  names  of  the  accounts,  certain  sections  being 
taken  by  form,  and  a  recapitulation  made  of  the 
different  sections. 


18  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

Another  advantage  gained  from  the  individual  leaf 
account,  is  that  of  perpetuity.  Loose  Leaf  Ledgers 
are  called  perpetual  from  the  fact  that  after  once  be- 
ing introduced,  there  would  follow  from  year  to  year 
no  necessity  of  opening  new  ledgers  except  it  might 
arise  from  the  expansion  of  the  business.  It  will  be 
very  readily  seen  that  if  an  account  has  been  opened 
on  a  leaf,  it  exists,  whether  it  is  unpaid  and  in  the 
current  ledger,  or  balanced  and  in  the  transfer  ledger. 

Suppose  the  account  of  Smith  &  Co.,  had  been 
balanced  and  taken  to  the  transfer  ledger,  later  on 
(we  will  say  two  or  three  months)  Smith  &  Co.,  buy 
again.  It  is  obvious  that,  as  the  account  of  Smith  & 
Co.,  has  been  started,  and  the  leaf  has  not  been  filled, 
that  it  is  quite  unnecessary  to  open  another  account, 
consequently  Smith  &  Co.'s  leaf  is  taken  from  the 
transfer  ledger,  returned  to  the  current  ledger  to  its 
proper  place,  and  the  posting  made  which  makes  it 
current.  Thus  you  will  see  that  should  one  firm  buy 
but  two  bills  per  year  of  you  for  ten  years,  that  their 
entire  account  would  be  upon  one  side  of  one  leaf, 
as  the  loose  leaf  ledger  usually  averages  thirty  to 
forty  lines  per  page.  On  the  other  hand,  if  Smith 
&  Co.,  had  been  customers  who  used  ten  pages  or 
five  sheets  per  year,  making  in  all  fifty  sheets  for  ten 
years,  all  of  these  fifty  sheets  would  be,  one  after 
another,  in  proper  consecutive  order  in  the  same 
place,  in  the  same  transfer  ledger. 

The  above  statement  in  regard  to  perpetuity  of  ac- 
counts, is  one  that  cannot  be  too  lightly  passed  over, 
in  considering  the  advantages  of  the  loose  leaf  ledger. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  19 

Those  who  know  the  difficulty  of  tracing  up  an  old 
account  through  five  or  six  ledgers,  and  perhaps  five 
or  six  places  in  each  ledger,  will  readily  appreciate 
this  wonderful  improvement  made  possible  only  by 
interchangeable  leaves. 

From  the  above  statement  you  will  see  that  it  is 
possible  to  use  in  any  loose  leaf  method,  every  line 
of  every  sheet  of  every  account  while  this  is  an  utter 
impossibility  with  books  that  require  re-opening  and 
exchange  as  the  larger  accounts  fill. 

The  saving  of  time  when  posting  and  balancing  has 
been  referred  to  and  will  be  readily  seen  from  the 
fact  that  there  is  no  dead  matter  to  run  over  or  at 
least  a  very  small  proportion  of  it. 

In  taking  a  trial  balance  much  time  and  labor  is 
saved  on  account  of  the  fact  that  all  of  the  account 
leaves  follow  consecutively,  one  account  to  the  leaf 
and  there  is  no  necessity  of  running  through  the 
blank  leaves,  to  be  certain  that  no  "open  account" 
lurks  unsuspected  amongst  them.  Should  one  alpha- 
betical section  have  twenty  or  thirty  leaves  and  the 
accounts  end  at  the  tenth  leaf  you  can  be  sure  that 
there  are  no  other  accounts  in  that  section  (unless 
you  use  the  sundry  leaf  which  should  be  at  the  end 
of  each  section). 

Balances  may  be  read  off,  copied  with  or  without 
the  names  as  preferred,  or  may  be  taken  direct  to  the 
adding  machine. 

In  the  opening  of  a  new  loose  leaf  ledger  or  ledgers 
the  method  of  course  depends  a  little  upon  the  index- 
ing features  used.  In  regard  to  the  best  method  when 


20  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

the  ordinary  index  is  used,  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  say, 
that  after  taking  off  a  balance  from  the  old  style 
books  and  proving  the  same,  the  balances  may  be 
transferred  to  the  loose  leaf  ledger  and  afterward 
sheets  can  be  taken  out  of  ledger,  (a  small  section  at 
a  time)  and  re-arranged  in  proper  alphabetical  order. 
Or  a  method  which  is  adopted  by  many  houses  in 
order  to  save  time  and  labor,  is  to  allow  accounts 
in  the  old  ledger  to  close  out  by  making  all  credit 
entries  for  the  opening  month  or  two  months  in  old 
ledger  and  by  making  debit  entries  in  new  ledger. 
Of  course  by  this  plan,  for  a  time  it  will  be  necessary 
to  combine  the  old  ledger  and  new  ledger  in  taking 
off  the  balance.  I  do  not  approve  of  allowing  old 
ledger  to  remain  open  longer  than  a  regular  balanc- 
ing period.  In  other  words  your  old  ledgers  are  bal- 
anced. Your  new  debit  postings  for  succeeding 
month  are  made  in  loose  leaf.  The  credit  postings 
for  the  month  are  made  in  old  ledger  except  in  such 
accounts  as  have  been  debited  the  same  month  in 
new  ledger.  At  the  close  of  the  month  the  balance 
remaining  in  old  ledger  should  be  transferred  to  loose 
Teaf,  and  new  balance  taken  from  new  books.  I  think 
this  course  is  likely  to  be  more  satisfactory,  easier 
to  handle  and  less  likely  to  contain  errors. 

A  closed  account  or  a  filled  page  should  only  be 
transferred  from  the  current  ledger  to  the  transfer 
ledger  after  the  balance  has  been  taken.  This  is  very 
important.  Should  transfers  be  made  from  time  to 
time  during  the  month  and  any  error  be  found  in  the 
balance,  it  would  be  necessary  to  check  through  the 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  21 

transfer  ledger  as  well  as  the  current  ledger  which 
would  be  a  long  and  tedious  task  after  the  transfer 
ledger  becomes  voluminous,  while  it  would  be  a  com- 
paratively easy  matter  if  accounts  were  left  in  the 
current  ledger  until  after  the  trial  balance  had  been 
proven  and  then  gleaned  out  and  removed  to  the 
transfer  ledger. 

Putting  in  a  Loose  Leaf  System  is  not  merely  pur- 
chasing a  ledger  but  in  order  to  obtain  the  best 
results  there  should  be  a  general  arrangement  and 
systematizing  of  other  departments  to  render  the 
work  of  the  book-keeper  less.  For  instance,  an  easy 
method  at  present  is  to  post  from  direct  order,  or 
from  direct  charges,  using  bill  and  charge  system 
(explained  in  another  chapter).  It  is  but  very  little  trou- 
ble for  those  who  have  charge  of  the  billing  to  ar- 
range the  charges  before  numbering  to  accord  with 
ledger  arrangement.  Thus  supposing  you  had  two 
ledgers  one  A  to  K  and  one  L  to  Z.  Before  charges 
come  to  you  these  charges  could  be  as  easily  arranged 
to  run  alphabetically  from  A  to  K  and  from  L  to  Z  as 
otherwise,  and  thus  numbered  consecutively  after  be- 
ing arranged,  or  even  if  sales  book  was  used  it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  arrange  the  records  of  the  sales 
so  that  they  would  run  alphabetically  and  continue 
thus.  When  you  post,  you  begin  at  the  front  of  book, 
and  by  the  time  you  have  finished  the  ledger  you  are 
through  the  charges.  This  obviates  the  necessity  of 
turning  back  and  forth  and  thus  saves  a  great  deal 
of  time.  The  chapter  on  indexing  will  show  you  the 
different  methods  that  may  be  employed,  and  of 


22  LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 

course  your  billing  department   should   conform  to 
whatever  method  of  indexing  is  used. 

The  most  popular  plan  of  handling  accounts  is  on 
the  loose  leaf  indexing  directory  principle,  or  lexicon 
plan  in  which  case  you  do  not  need  the  account 
numbered,  as  the  account  is  inserted  in  its  proper 
consecutive  alphabetical  position,  being  in  same  po- 
sition when  transferred.  In  this  case  it  is  necessary, 
or  at  least  it  is  convenient  to  open  accounts  outside 
of  ledger  and  to  insert  them  after  a  definite  period, 
say  at  the  close  of  your  day's  work.  For  this  pur- 
pose an  ordinary  spring  back  holder  the  size  to  cover 
ledger  sheet  is  used.  This  holder  has  a  capacity  of 
50  to  100  sheets,  contains  a  number  of  blank  ledger 
leaves  whereon  a  new  account  may  be  opened  and 
wherein  any  accounts  which  it  has  been  found  neces- 
sary to  take  from  transfer  may  be  quickly  inserted, 
and  left  there  until  you  are  ready  to  open  the  current 
ledger  and  place  accounts  in  their  proper  alphabetical 
location.  This  obviates  necessity  of  opening  ledger 
so  often  and  also  provides  a  sufficient  receptacle  for 
loose  leaves  so  they  are  firmly  held  together  and  can- 
not be  mislaid.  Of  course  if  this  holder  should  not 
be  gleaned  and  the  several  open  accounts  and  trans- 
fer accounts  placed  in  current  ledger  every  night, 
the  holder  forms  a  part  of  the  current  ledger,  and 
must  be  cared  for  in  same  manner.  It  is  not  well 
however  to  leave  accounts  any  length  of  time  in  the 
temporary  holder.  It  should  be  the  duty  of  the  book- 
keeper in  charge  of  the  ledger  to  open  his  book  at 
least  once  a  day  and  place  therein  all  the  leaves  upon 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  23 

which  new  accounts  have  been  entered,  and  those 
from  the  transfer  upon  which  new  postings  have  been 
made. 

Some  book-keepers  have  abated  the  necessity  of 
the  holder  by  inserting  a  number  of  extra  leaves  in 
the  back  of  the  ledger,  upon  which  extra  leaves  new 
accounts  are  opened  and  transferred  at  regular  in- 
tervals to  their  proper  places.  I  consider  the  holder 
quite  a  necessary  feature  and  very  useful.  In  case 
accounts  are  numbered,  the  necessity  for  opening 
new  accounts  in  holder  does  not  exist,  as  they  are 
opened  consecutively  following  each  section  irres- 
spective  of  their  alphabetical  sequence,  which  of 
course  in  this  case  is  a  reason  why  you  should  always 
keep  a  number  of  blank  leaves  following  any  section 
and  thus  have  plenty  of  space  for  opening  new  ac- 
counts. By  this  plan  if  accounts  are  taken  from 
transfer  and  re-opened,  they  should  be  placed  in 
holder  until  night  and  then  put  into  current  binder 
in  their  proper  numerical  place. 

After  the  trial  balance  is  taken  all  closed  accounts 
and  filled  pages,  should  be  well  gleaned  out  and 
placed  in  the  transfer  binder.  Of  course  an  account 
may  be  closed  and  still  current,  each  book-keeper 
knows  his  accounts  well  enough  to  be  able  to  tell 
(even  if  an  account  is  closed)  as  to  whether  the  cus- 
tomer is  likely  to  re-open  the  same  within  a  month  or 
not.  Of  course  with  a  regular  customer  whose  ac- 
count is  likely  to  be  soon  re-opened  it  is  useless  labor 
to  transfer  it,  because  to  re-open  the  account  it  would 
have  to  be  brought  back  immediately  to  current 


24  LOOSE    LEAF    BOOK-KEEPING. 

ledger.  It  is  well  however  to  keep  your  ledger  as  free 
from  dead  matter  as  possible,  and  the  book-keeper 
who  does  not  do  so,  is  losing  one  of  the  greatest  ad- 
vantages of  the  Loose  Leaf  System. 

It  is  well  to  remember  that  loose  leaf  binders  like 
other  things  have  their  limitations  and  they  should 
not  be  crowded  beyond  their  normal  capacity.  When 
a  business  grows  to  such  an  extent  that  the  new  ac- 
counts are  becoming  greater  in  number  each  month 
and  the  capacity  of  the  binder  or  binders  is  taxed  to 
the  uttermost  it  becomes  important  that  more  binders 
be  purchased  and  the  present  binders  be  split  or 
divided  into  two  or  more  parts  as  may  be  desired. 
The  indexing  arrangement  may  be  also  split  or  new 
indexes  with  more  minute  divisions  may  be  pur- 
chased. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  25 

CHAPTER  3- 

THE    LOOSE-LEAF    LEDGER— Continued. 
RULINGS. 

The  forms  for  ledger  pages  under  the  Loose  Leaf 
System  are  as  varied  as  the  demands  of  the  cus- 
tomers require.  They  may  be  made  up  in  any  desired 
style,  from  the  simple  old  style  debit  and  credit  sec- 
tions to  the  newer  forms  adapted  to  different  lines 
of  business. 

A  ledger  leaf  which  has  proven  very  popular 
among  book-keepers  is  one  wherein  the  difference  is 
in  the  placing  of  the  figure  columns  in  the  center  of 
the  sheet  rather  than  at  the  margins  (see  plate  No. 
i).  In  this  form  you  will  notice  that  the  balance 
column  is  in  the  center  of  the  page  with  debit  column 
to  the  left,  credit  column  to  the  right  of  it.  The  ad- 
vantage of  this  ruling  is  that  wherever  it  is  neces- 
sary to  rule  off  accounts  only  one  short  line  is  re- 
quired for  the  purpose  instead  of  lines  upon  each  side 
of  the  page,  as  is  necessary  in  the  old  style  ruling. 
Most  book-keepers  use  the  balance  columns  merely 
as  memoranda  entering  balances  with  pencil  and  con- 
sidering all  balances  debit  unless  they  are  entered  in 
red  ink,  or  enclosed  in  a  circle.  As  most  balances  in 
a  sales  ledger  are  debit  one  balance  column  is  suf- 
ficient to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  case,  but  a 
double  balance  column  may  be  introduced  showing 
both  debit  and  credit  balance  (see  plate  No.  2)  in 


26 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


Plate  No.  1. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  27 

which  case  of  course  the  balance  would  be  placed  in 
its  proper  column. 

Of  the  two  forms  above  mentioned  I  much  prefer 
the  latter,  as  it  is  perfectly  clear  and  requires  no  more 
space  than  the  other  style. 

Some  book-keepers  do  not  rule  off  closed  accounts, 
but  use  their  balance  column  for  proving  up  in  same 
manner  as  the  Safe  Guard  System,  in  which  case  of 
course  balance  should  be  carried  into  balance  column 
at  the  close  of  each  month,  and  should  there  be  no 
balance  it  should  be  indicated  by  ciphers  or  a  dash. 
This  arrangement  has  one  great  advantage,  viz.,  that 
the  entire  amount  of  debits  and  the  entire  amount 
of  credits  for  each  customer  is  shown  in  the  total  ad- 
ditions of  debit  and  credit  column  and  at  the  end  of 
the  year  a  recapitulation  of  the  individual  debits  will 
balance  the  total  debit  posting  for  the  year  and  the 
recapitulation  of  the  individual  total  credits  will  bal- 
ance the  total  credit  postings  for  the  year,  while  the 
total  of  the  individual  balances  will  be  a  balance  for 
the  end  of  the  year  and  will  balance  the  total  debits 
less  the  total  credits  with  the  1st  of  January,  preced- 
ing balance  added. 

Of  course  where  this  plan  is  used  the  balances 
at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  or  the  balances  trans- 
ferred from  old  books  at  any  given  period,  should  be 
placed  in  the  balance  column  and  not  in  the  debit 
or  credit  posting  columns. 

It  is  not  ne'cessary  for  me  to  give  in  this  work 
all  of  the  different  ledger  rulings,  I  could  not  do 
so  if  I  wished  without  producing  a  very  large  volume, 


28 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  29 

but  a  few  other  forms  may  be  of  sufficient  in- 
terest on  account  of  their  difference  from  the  old 
style  ruling.  Plate  No.  3  shows  a  ruling  which  by 
many  is  preferred  to  any  other  style.  It  gives  the 
ordinary  debit  and  credit  balance  columns,  but  does 
not  place  the  columns  in  the  center  of  the  page.  As 
far  as  the  use  of  this  form  is  concerned  and  its  prac- 
ticability, there  is  no  question  but  that  it  is  thor- 
oughly up  to  date,  and  can  be  used  to  great  advant- 
age in  any  line  of  business,  not  requiring  much  room 
in  the  item  columns.  Plate  No.  4  shows  a  double 
debit  ruling  against  a  single  credit  ruling,  which  is 
an  inovation  somewhat  unusual.  This  ruling  is 
especially  intended  for  houses  having  a  large  num- 
ber of  debit  entries,  most  of  them  being  paid  by 
monthly  check,  and  therefore  largely  reduces  the 
number  of  credits.  It  is  practical  in  some  lines  of 
business  and  useful  in-as-much  as  it  enables  more 
postings  to  be  made  upon  one  page,  the  necessity 
for  carrying  forward  accounts  thus  being  lessened. 
I  will  give  another  illustration  of  regular  ledger 
ruling,  and  that  is  in  a  case  where  more  room  is 
required  on  the  debit  item  side,  than  is  required  on 
the  credit  item  side,  and  this  ruling  is  shown  in 
plate  No.  5.  Qf  course  the  necessity  for  a  ledger 
of  this  character  only  exists  where  the  items  them- 
selves are  transferred  to  the  ledger  from  the  sales- 
sheet  or  sales-book  and  really  makes  the  ledger  a 
combination  book  being  in  itself  explanatory  of  the 
entire  transaction.  These  sheets  of  course  must 


30 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  31 

be  somewhat  wider  than  the  ordinary  ledger  to 
make  room  for  additional  spaces  required. 

Some  book-keepers  and  business  houses  still  cling 
to  the  old  idea  of  having  a  "Double  Double"  ruling 
thinking  that  it  will  save  space  and '  render  the 
book  more  useful,  but  when  you  take  into  consid- 
eration the  number  of  'small  accounts  where  the 
largest  portion  of  the  page  is  not  used  up  for  a  long 
time,  it  does  not  seem  that  there  is  any  real  neces- 
sity for  using  the  "Double  Double"  in  Loose  Leaf 
Books.  Of. course  the  public  have  been  for  many 
years  accustomed  to  the  sewed  books  wherein,  in 
order  to  have  sufficient  amount  of  space  without 
transferring  frequently,  the  "Double  Double"  was  a 
great  necessity,  in-as-much  as  it  enabled  book- 
keepers to  have  a  much  larger  number  of  accounts 
in  one  ledger,  than  could  be  done  with  the  single 
ruling.  The  fact  however  that  the  expansion  of 
accounts  is  limitless  under  the  Loose  Leaf  plan 
renders  the  necessity  for  "Double  Double"  in  ruling 
absolutely  nil. 

Of  course  various  columns  may  be  introduced 
made  necessary  by  requirements  of  any  special  line 
of  business,  for  instance,  "the  terms,"  "the  due 
date,"  "requisition  number,"  "salesman"  or  any 
other  explanatory  column  required.  Necessities  of 
the  business  can  thus  be  closely  followed  in  the  rul- 
ing of  loose  sheets  and  by  bringing  them  within  the 
columns  arranged  thus,  reduces  to  a  very  large  ex- 
tent the  amount  of  labor  required  in  keeping  an 
accurate  account.  On  most  of  the  Loose  Leaf  sheets 


32 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 


LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  33 

the  heading  of  the  different  columns  are  printed  in 
and  the  name  of  the  firm  at  the  head  of  each  sheet, 
this  is  a  special  advantage  where  columns  are  in- 
troduced for  a  definite  use,  outside  of  the  regular 
ledger  column.  Of  course  where  the  regular  ruling 
is  made,  it  is  not  absolutely  necessary  to  put  in 
printed  heads,  as  a  book-keeper  with  an  ounce  of 
sense  would  be  able  to  tell  the  different  uses  of 
columns  without  referring  to  the  printed  caption. 

As  already  stated  the  different  forms  of  ledger 
ruling  which  can  be  made  for  Loose  Leaf  books  are 
inexhaustible  and  subject  only  to  the  indivual  needs 
of  the  users.  Some  of  these  individual  needs  will 
be  mentioned  in  their  proper  place  in  the  following 
chapters.  I  will  give  another  illustration  (see 
plate  No.  6).  This  leaf  is  intended  for  "Petty 
Accounts"  or  "Sundry  Accounts"  -  and  if  op- 
ened on  an  ordinary  sized  ledger  leaf  eight 
or  more  such  accounts  may  be  accommodated.  I 
do  not  recommend  the  use  of  this  "Sundry  Leaf" 
in  any  line  of  business,  as  it  does  away  with  the 
primal  object  sought  for  in  loose  leaf  accounting, 
namely  an  individualized  leaf  which  will  contain 
charges  and  credits  of  individuals,  whether  they  are 
few  or  many;  say  that  for  instance,  if  a  customer 
purchased  but  one  bill  a  year  for  ten  years,  his  en- 
tire account  would  appear  at  the  end  of  that  time 
upon  one  side  of  one  leaf,  whereas  if  "Petty  Ac- 
count" page  is  used  it  would  be  necessary  to  re-open 
this  account  from  year  to  year,  the  same  as  is  done 
in  the  old  style  ledger,  as  it  would  be  manifestly 


34 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  35 

improper  to  return  the  leaf  containing  seven  closed 
accounts  to  your  current  ledger  in  order  to  re-open 
one  account. 

The  cost  of  the  leaf  is  so  triflng,  that  there  is 
really  no  reason  why  an  individual  leaf  should  not 
be  given  to  each  customer,  no  matter  how  small 
the  account,  and  this  will  be  found  the  most  de- 
sirable manner  of  keeping  accounts.  Never-the-less 
there  are  some  houses  that  prefer  this  leaf  for 
"sundries"  on  account  of  the  fact  that  they  can  per- 
haps, by  this  method,  lessen  the  number  of  ledgers 
required  for  their  service. 

Where  this  leaf  is  used,  it  is  the  best  plan  to  have 
one  or  two  sundry  leaves  following  each  alphabet- 
ical division.  These  sundry  leaves  give  room  for 
eight  or  more  accounts  to  a  leaf  according  to  the 
size  of  the  leaf.  In  case  any  sundry  or  petty  account 
should  grow,  and  require  more  room,  it  goes  with- 
out saying  that  it  should  be  immediately  transferred 
to  an  individual  leaf  which  should  be  inserted  in  its 
proper  place.  In  regard  to  disposing  of  these  "Petty 
Account  Leaves"  and  transferring  them  from  cur- 
rent ledgers  into,  transfer  ledgers,  of  course,  it  can 
only  be  done  when  all  of  the  accounts  upon  the  leaf 
are  closed,  except  in  one  way,  namely :  should  one 
or  two  accounts  only  be  open  on  leaf  and  a  desire 
is  felt  to  transfer  this  leaf,  these  accounts  may  be 
transferred  to  another  current  leaf,  and  the  old  leaf 
removed  from  current  work.  In  this  connection  it 
is  practical  to  use  a  "Petty  Card  Ledger''  for  this 
class  of  accounts,  in  which  case  the  "Card  Ledger 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


LJ 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  37 

Account,  should  be  carried  in  the  general  ledger  and 
balanced  separately. 

Where  a  "Petty  Ledger  Account"  is  kept  in  the 
general  ledgers,  if  the  leaves  are  congregated,  and 
not  distributed  among  the  alphabetical  divisions  a 
separate  charge  file  should  be  provided  and  a  sepa- 
rate column  in  the  cash  book  for  payments.  This 
is  of  course  necessary  with  the  card  arrangement,  but 
if  the  leaves  are  distributed  through  their  different 
alphabetical  locations,  it  is  unnecessary  to  have  a 
"Petty  Ledger  Account,"  as  the  charges  and  credits 
are  entered  and  posted  the  same  as  other  accounts. 

A  center  ledger  ruling  without  balance  columns 
is  shown  in  Plate  No.  7. 

A  ledger  ruling  giving  an  extra  item  space  with 
dating  and  terms  is  shown  in  Plate  No.  12, next  page. 

Any  desired  variations  of  ruling  can  be  accomp- 
lished as  is  illustrated  in  those  presented.  One  of  a 
peculiar  nature  is  referred  to  in  the  last  chapter  of 
this  book. 


LOOSE  EEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


*l 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  39 

CHAPTER  4. 
THE  LOOSE-LEAF  LEDGER— Continued. 

The  durability  of  the  Loose-Leaf  Ledger  is  much 
greater  than  the  general  old  style  books,  and  the 
term  perpetual  has  often  been  applied  to  it  from 
the  fact  that  new  ledgers  do  not  have  to  be  opened 
from  year  to  year,  and  that  the  binders  may  be  used 
for  many  thousand  accounts. 

The  current  binder  (as  the  holder  which  contains 
current  accounts  is  usually  called)  should  contain 
from  500  to  600  accounts.  If  more  than  this  num- 
ber should  be  handled  in  one  ledger,  it  becomes 
cumbersome  and  unwieldy.  If  a  firm  has.  1400  cur- 
rent accounts  or  more,  it  would  be  best  to  divide 
same  into  three  ledgers.  Ease  in  handling  is  a  very 
essential  feature.  In  the  purchase  of  Loose  Leaf 
books  care  should  be  taken  that  the  leaf  is  not  too 
large,  or  capacity  of  current  binder  too  great.  It 
is  better  to  have  three  ledgers  to  handle  from  thir- 
teen to  fifteen  hundred  accounts,  than  to  endeavor 
to  force  them  into  two  ledgers  not  only  for  the 
convenience  in  handling,  but  on  account  of  the  op- 
portunity for  expansion,  which  in  most  cases  is  made 
necessary  by  the  growth  of  the  business. 

There  is  no  necessity  for  numbering  loose  leaf 
binders,  on  account  of  the  fact  that  they  are  not 
succeeded  by  other  binders,  as  is  the  case  in  sewed 
books,  and  the  transfers  are  handled  in  such  man- 
ner that  they  do  not  follow  in  consecutive  numerical 
order. 


40 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 


u 

UJ 

5  a 


u 
h- 
< 
-J 
a 


I: 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  41 

A  transfer  binder  usually  holds  one  thousand 
sheets  and  assuming  that  it  is  indexed  from  A  to 
Z  and  the  necessity  for  a  second  transfer  binder 
arises,  instead  of  calling  the  first  one  No.  I  and  the 
second  one  No.  2,  the  proper  course  is  to  divide  the 
accounts  in  the  first  binder  placing  last  portion  in 
the  new  binder,  you  would  then  have  accounts  in 
one  binder  from  A  to  K  and  accounts  in  the  second 
binder  running  from  L  to  Z  in  same  manner.  Should 
accounts  be  divided  from  time  to  time,  every  time 
that  a  new  transfer  is  required  in  this  way,  the  ar- 
rangement of  accounts  is  such  that  any  given  per- 
son's account  can  be  found  instantly  by  referring 
to  only  one  book  and  whether  it  should  occupy  the 
space  of  one  page  or  fifty  pages,  it  would  be  in  one 
place. 

Some  large  firms  who  use  a  very  great  number 
of  ledgers  have  adopted  a  substitute  for  transfer 
binders,  which  is  working  very  satisfactorily.  It  is 
a  vertical  filing  case  made  to  take  in  sizes  of  ledger 
leaves  and  indexed  as  fine  as  may  be  necessary. 
With  this  device,  which  is  in  fact  a  transfer  ledger, 
the  leaves  taken  out  of  current  binder  are  placed  in 
their  proper  alphabetical  position  consecutively  in 
same  manner  as  they  would  be  placed  in  transfer 
binder.  They  are  very  accessible,  easily  found  and 
the  drawers  may  be  locked  if  it  is  deemed  necessary. 

A  very  valuable  use  of  the  transfer  binder  has 
been  found  by  many  firms  in  circularizing  work. 
Where  it  is  desired  to  call  the  attention  of  the  cus- 
tomers who  have  closed  their  accounts,  and  stopped 


42  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

purchasing  to  the  advantage  of  your  wares  it  can 
be  done  very  systematically  by  running  through 
transfer  ledger  and  taking  the  names  and  addresses 
of  such  accounts  as  are  in  good  standing. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  method  of  handling  trans- 
fer accounts  that  it  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  look  up 
back  accounts  no  matter  how  old  they  may  be,  as 
they  are  found  under  any  indexing  arrangement  in 
same  locality  for  whatever  time  the  loose  leaf  sys- 
tem may  have  been  in  use. 

The  making  of  statements  from  the  Loose  Leaf 
Ledger  is  a  simple  and  easy  matter  The  fact  that 
there  are  few  closed  accounts  to  go  over  lightens 
the  work  materially,  and  if  statements  are  made  con- 
secutively from  each  ledger,  they  will  follow  in  same 
ord^r  as  index  arrangements  indicate,  which  is  quite 
serviceable  under  all  circumstances.  If  the  index 
is  alphabetical,  the  statements  will  naturally  be  in 
correct  alphabetical  order,  having  been  taken  con- 
secutively. If  the  index  is  by  state  or  town,  the 
statements  for  any  given  section  will  be  together 
and  should  index  be  by  salesman's  territory  it  natural- 
ly follows  that  each  salesman's  statements  are  to- 
gether and  the  same  admirable  arrangement  is 
maintained  without  any  extra  labor. 

On  the  loose  leaf  plan  it  is  possible  to  get  out  the 
monthly  statements  more  promptly  as  extra  clerks 
can  be  put  on  the  work  at  one  time,  where  there  are 
a  number  of  ledger  binders. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  43 

With  the  large  old  style  bound  ledger  but  one 
man  could  work  on  it  and  necessarily  the  statements 
would  always  be  several  days  late. 

Upon  each  page  of  the  Loose  Leaf  Ledger  will  be 
found  the  words  "Sheet  No."  In  opening  a  Loose 
Leaf  Ledger  every  account  opened  therein  would 
of  course  be  sheet  No.  I,  and  as  each  sheet  is  filled 
the  numbers  follow  consecutively,  so  that  in  trans- 
ferring an  account  it  can  be  traced  through  from  be- 
ginning to  end  by  sheet  numbers.  On  the  same 
principle  it  is  necessary  to  use  Sheet  No.  I  as  the 
caption  of  each  new  account  as  it  is  opened. 

It  is  usually  the  case  in  Loose  Leaf  books  that 
the  columns  are  headed  such  as  "Date,"  "Items," 
"Debit,"  "Balance,"  "Credit,"  "Terms,"  etc.,  etc., 
which  is  a  guide  to  the  proper  location  of  posting. 

When  it  is  possible  for  a  firm  to  carry  all  their 
accounts  in  one  ledger,  that  is  when  total  number  of 
"General  Accounts,"  "Sales  Accounts"  and  "Pur- 
chase Accounts"  does  not  exceed  six  hundred,  it  is 
entirely  practical  to  arrange  your  ledger  for  this 
purpose,  in  which  case  it  is  best  to  run  the  "Gen- 
eral Accounts"  and  "Personal  Accounts"  in  the 
front  of  ledger.  The  "Sales  Accounts"  to  follow, 
and  the  "Purchase  Accounts"  at  the  back.  Even 
with  this  arrangement  it  is  best  to  carry  in  your 
general  ledger  section  a  sales  ledger  account  and  a 
purchase  ledger  account,  so  that  your  general  ledger 
section  balances  independently,  and  your  sales  ledger 
account  shows  the  required  balance  of  the  sales 
ledger  section,  and  your  purchase  ledger  account 


44  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

shows  the  required  balance  of  purchase  ledger  sec- 
tion. In  order  to  accomplish  this  result,  it  is  of 
course  necessary  at  the  end  of  each  month  to  post 
through  your  journal  the  total  debits  of  the  month  of 
the  sales  ledger  under  one  item,  the  total  credits  un- 
der one  item,  and  the  same  for  the  purchase  ledger 
account.  If  you  have  more  than  one  sales  ledger, 
it  is  better  to  have  a  separate  general  ledger  and 
the  same  principle  as  laid  down  for  single  ledger, 
will  apply  for  any  number  of  ledgers,  which  you  may 
use.  The  only  necessity  arising  from  the  multi- 
plicity of  ledgers,  would  be  that  a  proper  number  of 
columns  must  be  maintained  in  cash  book,  so  that 
the  posting  of  the  total  credits  of  each  ledger  can  be 
obtained  at  the  end  of  the  month  and  the  division 
of  sales  be  kept  in  like  manner  for  whatever  num- 
ber of  ledgers  you  carry,  or  whatever  series  of 
ledgers  you  require. 

It  may  be  well  to  explain  what  is  meant  by  series 
of  ledgers.  In  some  large  houses  that  require  fif- 
teen or  twenty  current  ledgers  they  are  arranged  in 
series  form.  As  one  book-keeper  might  be  able  to 
take  care  of  two  to  four  ledgers  under  the  Loose 
Leaf  plan,  therefore  the  number  of  ledgers  under 
one  book-keeper's  care  would  be  called  series  A, 
those  under  the  next  book-keeper's  care,  series  B 
and  so  on. 

Of  course  with  the  arrangement  of  several  ledg- 
ers or  several  series  of  ledgers,  whichever  may  be 
the  case,  the  arrangement  of  debits  and  credits 
should  be  made  to  accord  with  the  arrangement  of 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  45 

the  ledgers  in  order  to  gain  time  and  avoid  mis- 
takes ;  this  is  quite  as  necessary  as  any  other  portion 
of  the  work. 

The  best  method  of  proving  postings  in  the  Loose 
Leaf  Ledger  or  any  other,  for  that  matter,  which  can 
be  used  by  every  one  and  which  is  adapted  for  a 
business  of  any  character  and  any  size,  is  to  have 
the  total  amount  of  debit  postings  figured  up  by 
bill  clerk,  prior  to  posting.  The  bill  clerk  should 
keep  a  recapitulation  book,  showing  each  day's 
debits  of  each  ledger  or  series.  The  book-keeper 
then  takes  the  "Sales-book,"  "Sales-sheet"  or  "Tis- 
sue" whatever  it  may  be  and  goes  forward  with  his 
postings,  placing  the  sheets  to  be  posted  from  at  the 
left  hand  of  ledger  and  the  posting  slip  at  right  hand 
of  ledger.  If  posting  is  made,  amount  posted  is 
jotted  upon  the  posting  slip,  and  at  the  close  post- 
ing must  balance  with  total  amount  as  indicated  by 
the  bill  clerk's  addition.  Some  firms  prefer  to  place 
a  slip  in  ledger  at  each  posting  point  and  either  take 
off  amount  after  the  posting  is  completed  upon  a 
posting  slip,  or  if  they  have  a  computing  machine  in 
the  office,  it  can  be  done  readily  with  that.  The 
same  arrangement  of  credits  is  followed  by  cashier 
and  book-keeper,  thus  proving  the  credit  postings 
in  same,  manner.  If  this  plan  is  followed  carefully 
the  ledger  is  kept  absolutely  in  daily  balance.  Of 
course  it  is  understood  that  all  debit  postings  from 
whatever  source,  must  be  summarized  and  all  credit 
postings  from  whatever  source  the  same. 

I  do  not  consider  it  necessary  to  go  into  detail  in 


46  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

regard  to  the  handling  of  a  large  business.  My  ob- 
ject in  this'  book  is  to  lay  down  the  general  princi- 
ples which  will  be  applicable  to  any  business  house 
whether  they  require  the  services  of  one  book-keeper 
or  ten,  of  course  in  the  larger  concern  there  would 
be  much  minutia  necessitated  by  the  character 
of  business,  and  differing  in  many  respects  from  each 
other. 

I  believe  the  general  rules  laid  down  above  for 
balancing  will  prove  satisfactory  in  every  case  pro- 
viding they  are  handled  intelligently  by  book-keep- 
ers. Of  course,  in  some  small  houses  we  find  a  book- 
keeper who  acts  as  bill  clerk  and  cashier  also.  In 
this  case  the  proving  is  not  as  positive,  as  when  we 
have  someone  else  to  accomplish  the  primary  work, 
for  the  reason  that  it  is  much  more  difficult  for  a 
person  to  prove  his  own  work. 

Many  book-keepers  or  clerks  use  the  check-figure 
and  find  it  very  satisfactory,  but  it  is  not  the  prov- 
ince of  a  work  of  this  kind  to  discuss  check-figure 
systems,  and  it  is  best  to  leave  their  use  entirely  to 
the  option  of  the  book-keeper. 

In  closing  I  wish  to  say  that  every  book-keeper 
who  is  using  a  "Loose  Leaf  System"  will  undoubt- 
edly appreciate  the  truth  of  the  saying  that  it  is 
"the  book-keeper's  friend,"  as  it  makes  his  work 
lighter,  destroys  much  of  the  tediousness  of  his 
calling,  enables  him  to  accomplish  greater  results 
and  be  absolutely  accurate  (with  less  labor),  than  any 
other  system  ever  introduced.  The  book-keepers 
who  have  not  used  the  "Loose  Leaf  System''  may 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.-  47 

not  appreciate  the  full  force  of  this  statement,  but 
when  they  drop  the  old  and  adopt  the  new,  they  will 
very  soon  become  convinced  of  its  truth. 


CHAPTER  5. 

INDEXING,  ALPHABETICAL— STATES  AND 
TOWNS— NUMERICAL— SPECIAL. 

The  greatest  saving  of  time  made  through  the 
introduction  of  the  Loose  Leaf  System,  is  in  the  im- 
provement in  indexing  features,  which  can  be  ef- 
fected through  its  use. 

The  old  style  ledger  has  been  vastly  improved  by 
various  self-indexing  arrangements  and  while  they 
have  added  to  the  value  of  the  book  and  in  a  meas- 
ure proved  a  time  saver  for  the  book-keeper,  there 
have  been  various  difficulties  impossible  to  over- 
come in  any  sewed  books.  The  principal  of  these 
is  that  the-  account  is  very  likely  to  over-run  the 
amount  of  space  given,  thus  necessitating  a  trans- 
fer of  the  same  and,  as  the  number  of  spaces  under 
any  given  alphabetical  arrangement  is  necessarily 
limited  a  transfer  is  frequently  made  upon  subsid- 
iary leaves  inserted  after  the  alphabetical  leaves  to 
provide  for  this  very  emergency.  It  will  be  readily 
seen  that  in  this  arrangement  a  perfect  system  of 
indexing  is  absolutely  impossible.  During  the  early 
use  of  the  books,  while  the  accounts  remain  unfilled, 
it  is  quite -possible  to  produce  an  alphabetical  ar- 


48  LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 

rangement  which  will  be  more  satisfactory  than  the 
old  plan  of  having  a  special  index.  But  when  the 
accounts  become  rilled  and  the  transfer  to  the  sub- 
sidiary pages  made  absolutely  necessary,  it  is  im- 
possible to  continue  this  arrangement,  and  conse- 
quently a  very  large  portion  of  the  advantages  of 
the  self  indexing  ledger  is  thereby  completely  lost. 
Again  it  is  manifestly  impossible  to  accurately  judge 
as  to  the  business  which  may  come  from  the  busi- 
ness which  has  come.  It  is  true  that  we  can  form  an 
idea  which  may  not  be  very  far  out  of  the  way,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  new  business  taken  during  the 
succeeding  year  may  vary  materially  from  business 
of  past  years,  and  thus  render  our  indexing  features 
insufficient  for  our  needs. 

The  Loose  Leaf  Ledger  is  absolutely  the  only 
ledger  which  will  index  alphabetically  in  correct 
sequence  for  the  different  terms. 

This  admirable  feature  is  made  possible  only  by 
interchangeable  leaves,  and  no  book  of  whatever 
nature  with  permanent  leaves  can  be  arranged  to 
produce  these  results. 

It  is  also  a  fact  that  with  any  kind  of  a  sewed 
ledger  manufactured,  once  every  year  (or  pehaps 
every  two  years)  new  ledgers  must  be  opened,  new 
accounts  must  be  started  and  old  accounts  must  be 
transferred.  If  a  firm  has  10,000  accounts  with 
about  2,000  of  them  current,  the  2,000  must  imme- 
diately be  given  a  space'  in  the  new  books  and  the 
other  8,000  as  they  come  in.  This  has  to  be  done 
every  year  or  two. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  49 

Not  so  with  loose  leaf  books — after  the  10,000 
customers'  accounts  have  been  opened — they  would 
never  have  to  be  re-opened,  whether  active  or  inac- 
tive and  the  only  accounts  necessary  to  open  would 
be  for  absolutely  new  customers. 

We  will  first  take  up  plan  of  alphabetical  arrange- 
ment. 

Most  firms  who  have  a  small  number  of  accounts, 
namely  from  five  hundred  to  two  thousand,  prefer  the 
alphabetical  arrangement  to  all  others.  The  Loose 
Leaf  books  are  made  self-indexing  by  the  intro- 
duction of  projecting  leather  tabbed  leaves  at  proper 
intervals  for  each  letter  of  the  alphabet,  or  for  sev- 
eral divisions  of  each  letter  of  the  alphabet  running 
up  to  two  or  three  hundred.  We  will  consider  first 
the  plain  twenty-six  letter  alphabetical  division 
which  is  used  usually  in  one  book  and  is  suitable  for 
about  five  hundred  accounts.  In  the  use  of  this  al- 
phabetical arrangement  the  accounts  as  they  are 
placed  in  the  ledger  are  properly  arranged  in  con- 
tinuous alphabetical  order,  the  same  as  will  be  found 
in  the  directory,  for  instance,  under  B,  the  first  ac- 
count might  be,  Baker-Benninger  &  Co.,  the  second 
Bittner,  the  third  Bobb  &  Co.,  the  fourth  Butler  & 
Brown.  You  can  very  readily  see  that  if  you  had  an 
account  for  Thomas  Brookly  &  Co.,  in  order  to 
keep  proper  alphabetical  sequence,  this  account 
would  be  inserted  between  that  of  Bobb  &  Co.,  and 
Butler  &  Brown.  If  you  had  several  Browns  (in- 
dividual) they  would  be  entered  according  to  given 


50  LOOSE  LEAF.  BOOK-KEEPING. 

name.     Albert  first,  Benjamin  second,  Charles  third, 
and  so  on. 

When  the  sales  ledger  is  kept  in  this  manner,  it  is 
absolutely  unnecessary  to  have  any  written  index 
whatever,  for  each  page  of  your  ledger  is  an  index 
page.  It  is  not  difficult  to  turn  almost  instantly  to 
any  account  desired,  in  fact,  you  can  turn  to  the  ac- 
count and  make  a  posting  sooner  than  you  can  find 
the  folio  in  any  index.  The  reason  for  this  is  ap- 
parent as  we  have  noted  in  previous  chapters  as  the 
main  idea  of  Loose  Leaf  Books  is  to  keep  your 
ledger  as  nearly  current  as  possible.  In  looking  for 
a  name  among  the  various  names  in  your  current 
ledger,  you  do  not  have  to  pass  over,  or  examine 
a  large  number  of  inactive  or  dead  accounts,  which 
you  would  have  to  do  with  a  separate  index.  In. 
case  your  sewed  books  have  been  in  use  for  a  year 
or  more,  you  are  obliged  to  have  a  written  index 
in  which  you  enter  all  the  names,  and  thus  the  num- 
ber multiplies  rapidly,  whether  accounts  are  active 
or  inactive. 

Where  no  account  number  is  used  and  the  book- 
keeper fails  to  find  the  leaf  for  any  given  name  in 
the  current  binder,  he  should  examine  the  transfer 
binder  to  see  if  an  account  had  ever  been  opened 
with  the  customer.  A  note  might  be  made  on  divid- 
ing index  leaf  when  a  sheet  is  transferred,  in  order 
to  keep  the  current  binder  record  clear.  Some  firms 
find  it  most  convenient,  however,  to  keep  a  cus- 
tomer's card  index,  in  which  case  an  account  will  be 
marked  "new"  before  it  reaches  the  book-keeper. 


LOOSE    LEAP    BOOK-KEEPING.  51 

This  is  explained  in  Chapter  21. 

The  index  arrangement  for  transfer  ledger  is  ex- 
actly similar  to  that  of  the  current  ledger,  and  ac- 
counts in  transfer  ledger  therefore  lie  approximate- 
ly in  same  position  as  those  in  the  current  ledger 
and  are  as  easily  found. 

You  will  readily  note  by  this  plan  that  there  is  no 
account  number  or  folio  number  used  in  ledger 
whatever,  and  that  your  notation  when  posting 
would  be  an  ordinary  posting  check,  which  would  in- 
dicate that  the  amount  opposite  this  check  had  been 
posted. 

At  first  glance  a  person  does  not  realize  the  im- 
mense saving  of  book-keeper's  time  in  this  method 
of  handling  accounts,  but  perhaps  you  can  gain  a 
little  better  idea,  if  I  give  you  an  example  of  saving 
from  the  actual  experience  of  a  business  firm.  This 
firm  had  altogether  during  the  year  three  thousand 
accounts,  one  thousand  being  the  average  number 
which  were  current.  Under  the  old  system  it  wa^ 
necessary  to  write  the  names  and  addresses  in  the 
index  book,  which  made  three  thousand  names  and 
addresses  during  the  year.  To  these  accounts  the 
average  number  of  postings  were  ten  to  each,  mak- 
ing thirty  thousand  postings  during  the  year.  This 
occasioned  thirty  thousand  researches  in  the  index 
in  order  to  ascertain  the  folio.  Their  plan  was  to 
have  the  stenographer  run  through  the  charges, 
placing  folio  thereon  in  order  to  aid  the  book-keeper 
in  his  work.  This  necessitated  the  writing  of  folio 
upon  the  original  order  in  pencil  thirty  thousand 


52  LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 

times.  The  book-keeper  upon  posting  the  item 
placed  folio  number  in  its  proper  place  on  the 
charge,  which  necessitated  the  book-keeper  writing 
the  folio  thirty  thousand  times.  Besides  counting 
time  necessary  to  look  up  names,  the  summary  of 
this  is,  the  writing  of  name  and  address  of  three 
thousand  people,  and  the  writing  of  a  three-figure 
folio  sixty  thousand  times,  or  the  unnecessary  writ- 
ing of  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  figures  in 
one  year. 

All  of  this  labor  is  saved  by  the  index  system 
described. 

As  mentioned  the  alphabet  is  variously  divided 
for  the  use  of  a  large  number  of  books,  up  to  sev- 
eral hundred  divisions.  It  is  usual  for  a  firm  hav- 
ing from  seven  hundred  to  one  thousand  current 
accounts  to  use  two  ledgers,  and  what  is  called  the 
two-line  alphabetical  division,  or  in  other  words  fifty 
divisions  of  the  alphabet  properly  made  according 
to  letters  and  formation  most  natural  to  occur.  Of 
course  the  names  most  common  are  those  beginning 
with  "S",  "M",  "H"  and  "B",  and  these  letters  are 
more  thoroughly  subdivided  than  others.  It  is  en- 
tirely proper  and  frequently  the  case  with  parties 
who  only  have  one  ledger  who  desire  the  same  thor- 
oughly divided,  to  purchase  the  two-line  index, 
which  gives  them  this  advantage,  that  if,  at  any 
future  time,  they  find  it  necessary  to  have  two  cur- 
rent ledgers  instead  of  one,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
purchase  a  new  index,  as  the  one  which  they  have  in 
use  may  be  divided  and  will  answer  for  two  books. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  53 

Basing  each  index  line  of  twenty-five  characters 
on  an  indexing  capacity  of  five  hundred  accounts,  it 
will  thus  be  seen  that  if  you  have  fifteen  hundred  ac- 
counts and  three  ledgers  you  would  need  a  three- 
line  index,  or  seventy-five  divisions  of  the  alphabet. 
If  you  have  say  two  thousand  accounts  and  four 
ledgers,  you  would  need  the  four-line  index  or  one 
hundred  divisions  of  the  alphabet,  and  so  on. 

ACCOUNT  NUMBER  INDEX. 

Some  firms  will  adhere  to  the  old  idea  of  writing 
an  account  number  for  each  account  as  opened  in 
the  Loose  Leaf  Ledger  (described  in  previous 
chapter)  and  it  will  be  seen  that  wherever  this  ar- 
rangement is  preferred  the  saving  of  writing  the 
names  cannot  be  effected,  but  the  advantages  of  the 
loose  leaf  even  in  this  arrangement  are  numerous, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  a  vowel  index  page  may  be 
furnished  for  each  letter,  and  this  is  not  a  separate 
distinctive  book,  liable  to  be  mislaid  or  lost,  but  is  an 
integral  part  of  the  ledger.  Of  course,  where  this 
account  number  is  used,  it  is  absolutely  unnecessary 
to  have  other  than  a  one  line  index,  consisting  of 
the  different  letters  of  the  alphabet  for  accounts  do 
not  follow  in  alphabetical  order,  but  just  as  they  are 
received  and  in  numerical  order,  according  to  ac- 
count number.  Thus  it  will  be  quite  as  easy  to  find 
any  account  by  number  -whether  there  are  two  or 
two  hundred,  by  the  account  number  given  on  pre- 
ceding index  page.  Of  course  if  transferring  of 
inactive  accounts  has  begun,  the  account  numbers 


54  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

will  riot  run  consecutively,  but  the  absence  of  an 
account  number  in  the  current  ledger  immediately 
indicates  that  it  is  in  the  transfer  ledger,  for  it  must 
be  in  one  place  or  the  other.  With  this  arrange- 
ment it  does  not  matter  how  the  accounts  are  in- 
serted, in  ledger  under  each  other,  as  they  are  classi- 
fied through  the  vowel  index  preceding  each  letter. 
They  do  not  however  run  in  the  same  order  as  folio 
numbers  of  the  old  style  ledger,  as  each  letter  is 
absolutely  independent.  Account  numbers  under 
each  index  section  must  start  with  No.  I.  American 
Brass  Co.,  might  be  account  A  3,  Baker  &  Brown 
might  be  B  3,  Chicago  Buggy  Co.,  might  be  C  12, 
etc.,  etc.,  but  the  principal  advantages  gained  by 
those  who  prefer  this  method  are : 

First,  that  it  is  impossible  to  lose  an  account,  as 
each  one  is  consecutively  numbered  as  entered  in 
the  ledger  and  must  be  forthcoming  either  in  cur- 
rent or  transfer  binders,  and  the  index  keeps  a  record 
of  such  a  number. 

Second,  that  the  index  furnishes  a  guide  to  all 
customers  whether  accounts  are  current  or  closed 
and  by  glancing  through  it  the  book-keeper  can 
ascertain  whether  or  not  an  account  is  a  new  one. 
(This  does  not  seem  to  be  of  great  importance,  as  it 
is  very  unusual  for  a  new  account  to  be  opened  in 
any  house  without  the  rating  of  the  customer,  and 
the  O.  K.  of  the  credit-man  or  proprietor,  which 
would  indicate  of  itself  to  the  book-keeper  that  the 
account  was%  new). 

Third,  that  the  entering  of  accounts  in  the  ledger 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  55 

may  follow  consecutively,  and  a  sufficient  number 
of  blank  leaves  kept  after  each  letter  at  all  times,  to 
provide  for  the  opening  of  new  accounts. 

I  feel  that  the  last  advantage  cited  for  this  method 
of  account  number  is  perhaps  the  most  important 
and  deserving  the  most  attention  of  any  mentioned. 
It  is  of  course  a  convenience  to  be  enabled  to  enter 
accounts  immediately  into  ledger  and  perhaps  a  lit- 
tle saving  of  time  in  the  arrangement  of  such  ac- 
counts, but  against  this  is  lost  all  the  time  writing 
index  names  and  account  numbers,  looking  them 
up  every  time  an  account  is  needed,  and  the  fact  that 
after  a  number  of  years  they  will  multiply  and  pro- 
duce an  index  more  or  less  complicated  while  the 
former  plan  does  away  with  all  such  complications, 
and  provides  for  them  automatically  giving  an  elas- 
ticity which  will  allow  very  few  or  very  many  ac- 
counts. An  account  number  once  given  always  re- 
mains the  same.  It  is  thus  easily  remembered. 

I  have  given  tfie  advantages  of  each  of  these  plans 
considerable  space  as  they  are  of  considerable  im- 
portance to  the  would-be  purchaser  or  book-keeper. 
Of  course,  it  is  readily  seen  that  although  you  may 
have  opened  your  books  on  the  account  number 
plan  (Loose  Leaf)  you  can  at  any  time  you  choose, 
change  them  to  the  straight  alphabetical  arrange- 
ment, or  on  the  other  hand  if  you  opened  them  on 
the  alphabetical  arrangement  and  find  that  it  did  not 
work  satisfactorily,  a  change  could  be  made  without 
re-writing  to  the  account  number  arrangement.  Of 
course  such  radical  changes  could  not  be  done  were 


56  LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 

it  not  that  the  leaves  are  interchangeable,  and  may 
be  varied  to  suit  the  case.  It  might  be  well  to  say 
right  here  that  similar  changes  can  be  effected  from 
any  method  of  indexing  to  any  other  method  of  in- 
dexing without  re-writing  a  single  page,  if  the  Loose 
Leaf  System  is  in  use. 

NUMERICAL  INDEXING. 

Numerical  indexing  is  where  the  account  has  a 
number,  and  is  known  by  that  number  throughout, 
much  more  readily  than  by  the  name  of  the  in- 
dividual, and  is  found  mostly  in  use  by  Saving  Banks, 
Building  Associations,  Trust  Co.'s,  Insurance  Co.'s, 
Installment  Houses  and  the  like. 

The  general  numerical  system  has  been  adopted 
by  some  of  the  largest  concerns  of  the  United  States 
and  of  course  where  this  system  is  in  use  in  general 
conduct  of  their  business,  it  should  also  be  observed 
in  the  arrangement  of  their  ledgers.  This  in  brief 
is  the  giving  to  a  customer  a  definite  number,  which 
remains  with  him  throughout  all  his  dealings  with 
the  firm,  for  instance  if  Brown  &  Co.,  were  921,  aP 
orders  of  Brown  &  Co.,  would  be  921,  all  letters  re- 
ceived 921,  all  communications  sent  921,  the  ledger 
number  921,  and  every  detail  of  business  would  be 
recognized  as  belonging  to  Brown  &  Co.,  if  it  had 
upon  it  the  number  921.  A  card  index,  arranged 
alphabetically,  should  be  used  in  connection  with 
this  plan. 

Under  the  numerical  arrangement  the  ledger 
leaves  may  be  numbered  at  the  time  they  are  made 
from  one  to  ten  thousand.  The  numerical  index 


LOUSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  57 

labs  running  through  ledger  can  be  introduced  as 
often  as  desired  either  in  hundreds,  fifties  or  twenty- 
fives,  and  merely  serve  to  throw  the  ledger  open 
close  to  the  point  desired.  Ordinarily  in  the  business 
houses  the  numerical  arrangement  is  not  preferred 
unless  they  have  other  things  in  accord  therewith, 
but  the  fact  that  it  can  be  introduced  with  so  little 
trouble,  shows  its  advantages  charly. 

INDEXING  BY  STATE  AND  TOWNS. 

Probably  the  most  complete  indexing  that  can  be 
done  under  any  plan,  is  that  of  subdividing  the  busi- 
ness under  the  state  and  town  alphabetical  arrange- 
ment. Most  of  the  largest  business  concerns,  at  least 
those  who  use  four  or  more  ledgers  have  adopted 
this  plan  as  being  the  most  perfect,  all  things  con- 
sidered. 

By  this  arrangement  the  accounts  are  divided  into 
states  and  where  it  is  necessary  two  or  more  ledgers 
may  be  provided  for  one  state,  and  in  other  cases 
three  to  six  states  may  be  accommodated  in  one 
ledger  depending  entirely  upon  the  amount  of  busi- 
ness done  in  different  localities.  Then  again  a  ledger 
is  used  for  miscellaneous  numbers  of  states,  and 
should  one  of  these  states  begin  to  show  a  great  in- 
crease of  business,  it  is  not  a  difficult  matter  to  pro- 
vide another  binder  for  this  growing  state,  and  ex- 
tract, it  from  its  brothers  without  interfering  in  the 
least  with  the  business  arrangement,  or  being  re- 
quired to  write  a  single  name. 


58 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


Where  this  plan  is  followed  the  arrangement  is  as 
follows : 

States  Alphabetical,  as  follows  : 


ALA 

IND. 

MONT. 

R.    I. 

ALAS. 

1.    T. 

NEB. 

S.    C. 

ARIZ. 

IA. 

NEV. 

S.    D. 

ARK. 

KAN. 

N.    H. 

TENN. 

CAL. 

KY. 

N.   J. 

TEX. 

COLO. 

LA. 

N.    M. 

UTAH 

CONN. 

ME. 

N.    Y. 

VT. 

DEL. 

MD. 

N.    C. 

VA. 

D.   C. 

MASS. 

N.  D. 

WASH. 

FLA. 

MICH. 

OHIO 

W.  VA. 

GA. 

MINN. 

OKLA. 

WIS. 

IDAHO 

MISS. 

OREG. 

WYO. 

ILL. 

MO 

PENN. 

Towns  Alphabetical, 

Names  Alphabetical  under  the  towns. 

It  is  not  necessary  of  course  to  have  a  town  index 
leaf  made  in  every  instance,  in  fact  it  is  unnecessary 
to  do  so,  unless  there  are  one-half  dozen  or  more 
customers  in  one  town.  In  this  case  it  would  of 
course  be  desirable  to  be  able  to  turn  quickly  to 
this  one  town,  and  that  can  be  easily  effected  if  di- 
vision leaves  are  used,  giving  the  name  of  the  town, 
which  of  course  would  follow  its  proper  state  tab. 
In  case  no  names  of  towns  were  desired  at  all,  and 
at  the  same  time  a  division  wished  the  alphabet  can 
easily  be  divided  into  four  parts,  one  division  leaf 
indicating  towns  taken  from  A  to  F,  another  G  to 
K.  another  L  to  R,  and  another  S  to  Z.  Of  course, 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  59 

these  division  leaves  following  the  state  tab  would 
indicate  to  the  book-keeper  the  location  of  any  de- 
sired town  that  he  may  wish  to  find.  One  of  the 
greatest  advantages  of  the  state  and  town  arrange- 
ment is,  that  the  book-keeper  becomes  familiar  with 
the  business  men's  names  in  certain  territories,  and 
a  book-keeper  who  is  handling  the  Missouri  and 
Kansas  ledger,  or  New  York  ledger,  or  Oregon 
ledger,  or  California  ledger,  soon  learns  the  cus- 
tomers in  these  different  points.  It  also  shows  at 
a  glance  how  many  customers  a  firm  has  at  any 
given  point,  and  how  much  they  have  sold  in  any 
given  town  or  state  during  the  year.  It  is  conven- 
ient for  making  up  statements,  as  statements  are 
made  from  one  ledger,  all  going  in  same  direction 
through  the  mail,  and  consequently  arrive  at  their 
destination  at  about  the  same  time. 

It  is  necessary  to  keep  an  alphabetical  card  index 
in  connection  with  state  and  town  index  ledger,  for 
the  reason  that  occasion  might  come  up  and  does 
come  up  at  odd  times,  where  name  of  customer  is 
known  and  name  of  town  or  state  in  which  he  is 
located  is  not  known.  In  such  cases  the  ledger 
would  not  give  any  indications  and  a  subsidiary  card 
index  (which  can  be  used  for  a  great  many  purposes) 
will  give  exact  information  desired. 

Another  plan  of  indexing  which  is  sometimes 
used  and  which  has  some  good  points  to  recommend 
is,  to  arrange  accounts  by  states  and  alphabetical- 
ly by  customers'  names  irrespective  of  towns,  put- 


60  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

ting  the  regular  alphabetical  index  tabs  under  each 
state. 

This  plan  is  particularly  advantageous  where  the 
firm  does  business  in  a  few  states  and  can  possibly 
aggregate  the  balance  of  the  United  States  under 
one  division,  and  "foreign"  under  one  division.  By 
subdividing  the  accounts  in  this  manner,  it  assem- 
bles all  of  the  customers  of  a  given  territory,  and 
in  case  at  any  later  date  it  was  desirous  to  change 
to  the  state  and  town  indexing  plan,  it  would  be 
very  easy  to  do  so  without  making  any  transfers  or 
opening  new  accounts.  It  would  have  to  be  done 
by  the  re-assembling  of  the  individual  accounts  un- 
der each  state  according  to  the  alphabetical  arrange- 
ment of  the  towns,  and  procuring  the  proper  index 
tabs  and  division  sheets  to  accord  with  the  new  ar- 
rangement. 

SUNDRY  ITEMS. 

The  Loose  Leaf  Ledger  as  you  have  seen  by  pre- 
ceding chapter  affords  a  limitless  opportunity  for 
indexing.  I  have  seen  a  ledger  indexed  by  geo- 
graphical divisions,  also  by  railway  routes  also  in 
salesmen  routes  and  in  salesmen  names,  also  by 
days  of  the  week,  in  fact,  there  is  no  indexing  ar- 
rangement, which  cannot  be  effected  through  Loose 
Leaf  books.  This  advantage  is  shown  very  clearly 
and  will  be  spoken  of  in  connection  with  record 
books,  where  the  names  of  commodities,  of  branches, 
or  of  indivduals-  may  be  inserted  on  projecting  tabs 
of  division  leaves  at  will.  The  general  ledger  (Loose 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  61 

Leaf)  is  made  better  by  the  division  leaves  giving 
the  names  of  the  different  general  accounts  upon 
tabs,  and  also  the  names  of  personal  ac- 
counts, thus  enabling  the  book-keeper  to  turn 
to  them  instantly  without  referring  to  an  index  of 
any  character. 

All  that  is  necessary  for  a  firm  to  consider,  is  the 
character  of  an  index  which  will  best  answer  its 
requirements,  and  it  does  not  matter  whether  such 
an  index  has  been  constructed  before  or  not,  it  can 
be  utilized  in  the  Loose  Leaf  plan  of  book-keeping 
and  even  if  it  was  to  a  certain  extent  experimental, 
it  would  not  involve  a  great  amount  of  work  in  case 
it  did  not  prove  wholly  satisfactory,  to  revert  to  any 
other  plan  found  to  be  more  desirable.  Care  should 
be  taken  in  handling  index  leaves  and  division  leaves, 
in  order  to  keep  them  in  good  condition.  As  they 
extend  about  one-half  an  inch  from  body  of  book, 
they  are  more  subject  to  contact  than  any  other 
portion  of  the  work,  and  consequently  care  should 
be  taken  that  they  are  not  -torn  and  mutiliated. 
They  should  be  made  much  heavier  than  the  regular 
ledger  sheet,  to  give  them  the  required  strength. 

INDEXING  SUNDRY  OR  PETTY  ACCOUNTS. 

The  great  drawback  to  the  use  of  the  Sundry  Ac- 
count Leaf  on  the  Loose  Leaf  plan,  arises  from  the 
fact  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  index  these  ac- 
counts in  such  a  way  that  reference  may  be  had  to 
them  quickly.  Where  a  leaf  is  large  enough  to  con- 
tain eight  or  more  accounts  on  each  side,  it  becomes 


62  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

quite  a  task  to  locate  any  given  account  unless  they 
are  numbered  consecutively  and  indexed  in  a  sepa- 
rate index.  Then  again,  unless  the  book-keeper  is 
thoroughly  familiar  with  his  accounts,  he  may  not 
always  be  certain  whether  a  name  occurs  in  the  Sun- 
dry section  or  in  the  regular.  Much  annoyance  and 
trouble,  however  is  saved,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
these  accounts,  not  being  very  active  are  necessarily 
not  often  referred  to.  Where  a  sheet  or  more  for 
these  accounts  is  placed  under  each  alphabetical  sub- 
division they  may  be  located  much  more  quickly  as 
only  the  names  beginning  with  that  subdivision  will 
be  placed  on  that  sheet,  but  the  use  of  this  kind  of 
a  sheet  on  the  Loose  Leaf  plan  is  never  very  satis- 
factory. The  rule  of  absolutely  one  account  on  a 
leaf,  and  both  sides  of  the  sheet  devoted  to  that  ac- 
count, if  strictly  adhered  to  will  save  the  book-keeper 
much  annovance  and  future  trouble. 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  63 

CHAPTER   6. 
LOOSE  LEAF  IN  THE  VOUCHER  SYSTEM. 

On  account  of  the  great  variety  of  rulings,  the 
size  of  the  book  and  the  constancy  of  its  use,  the 
Loose  Leaf  plan  is  particularly  adapted  to  the 
voucher  register  or  distribution  account. 

The  voucher  record  should  be  used  as  a  distri- 
bution book,  for  bills  paid  or  discounted,  which  have 
been  charged  to  accounts  payable  in  the  monthly 
totalization.  It  should  show  monthly  the  total 
amount  of  purchases  and  expense,  and  of  course, 
their  proper  distrioution. 

It  is  usual  to  have  a  number  of  columns,  but 
quite  unnecessary  to  have  special  colums  for  items 
unless  four  or  more  entries  per  month  are  sure  to 
occur.  For  occasional  items  a  "Sundries"  column 
can  be  provided  into  which  all  such  items  may  be 
entered.  This  column  analyzed  at  the  end  of  the 
month  can  be  sifted  down  as  fine  as  may  be  desired. 

The  different  character  of  vouchers  it  is  not 
necessary  to  discuss,  as  it  has  no  bearing  whatever 
on  loose  leaf  accounting,  but  the  method  of  handling 
and  entering  those  vouchers  is  certainly  within  the 
limit  of  this  work. 

When  we  are  studying  a  system  to  gain  an  idea 
of  its  advantages  and  defects  and  how  the  best 
application  may  be  made  to  improve  the  science  of 
book-keeping,  it  will  not  do  to  lose  sight  of  the 
fact  that,  at  all  times,  the  best  book-keeping  in  the 
world  is  that  which  gives  all  of  the  desired  results 


64  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

with  the  least  amount  of  labor  and  with  the  fewest 
entries.  Book-keeping  may  be  theoretically  correct 
and  still  four  times  as  many  entries  made  as  are 
actually  needed.  A  better  book-keeper  taking 
charge  of  such  a  set  of  books  will  have  them  just  as 
accurate  in  every  particular  and  will  not  spend  one- 
half  of  the  time  of  his  predecessor  or  use  one-half 
of  the  space. 

To  a  very  great  extent  the  loose  leaf  plan  makes 
this  proposition  possible. 

In  the  first  place  on  account  of  the  large  number 
of  columns  necessary  on  a  voucher  record  to  prop- 
erly distribute  the  purchases  of  a  manu- 
facturing, merchandising  or  railroad  plant,  a 
sewed  book  must  be  very  large.  I  have 
seen  them  two  and  one-half  feet  wide,  extending 
when  open  fully  five  feet.  As  the  columnar  items 
usually  carry  across  both  pages,  imagine  the  labor 
of  tracing  to  follow  the  proper  line  four  to  six  feet 
from  the  guiding  entry.  Think  of  the  great  weight 
of  such  books,  for  with  such  expensive  ruling  it 
would  be  folly  to  have  them  less  than  500  pages 
and  frequently  they  run  to  800  and  1000  pages. 

It  is  desirable  on  the  loose  leaf  plan  to  decrease 
this  width  as  much  as  possible,  eliminating  all 
useless  or  unnecessary  columns  and  bringing  it  down 
if  possible  to  an  18  or  2O-inch  sheet. 

On  the  loose  leaf  plan  the  use  of  the  book  is 
rendered  easy  by  the  fact  that  not  more  than  a 
dozen  or  twenty  sheets  of  this  size  need  be  handled 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  65 

at  a  time,  such  a  number  usually  being  sufficient  for 
a  month's  entries  of  the  largest  firm's  business. 

At  the  end  of  the  month  and  when  all  of  the 
columnar  additions  have  been  verified  and  posting 
made,  the  filled  pages  of  the  voucher  record  may  be 
removed  from  the  temporary  holder  and  placed  in 
the  permanent  voucher  binder.  This  should,  of 
course,  be  done  only  after  the  balance  has  been 
taken,  as  it  may  be  necessary  to  do  some  checking 
through  the  voucher  record  when  posting  is  made 
direct  thereform,  and  it  is  always  convenient  to 
keep  the  current  work  in  the  current  holder  until 
it  becomes  absolutely  inactive. 

The  advantage  of  passing  these  filled  pages  to  the 
permanent  binder  is  apparent,  from  the  fact  that  it 
decreases  at  once  the  weight  and  size  of  the  book 
most  used,  and  at  the  same  time  it  places  the  sheets 
which  have  been  filled  with  entries  in  a  book  which 
is  not  used  and  consequently  is  not  liable  to  friction. 
Excessive  handling  of  the  filled  pages  in  bound  books 
frequently  renders  the  writing  in  certain  portions 
illegible,  the  figures  a  mere  jumble,  the  edges  of  the 
leaf  resembling  the  teeth  of  a  cross-cut  saw  and 
?he  whole  book  presenting  an  appearance  of  dil- 
apidation that  is  extremely  distressful  to  the  heart 
of  a  book-keeper  who  delights  in  keeping  his  books 
in  neat  and  proper  shape.  Some  firms  use  a  voucher 
book  as  a  journal  or  distribution  record,  entering 
bills  after  they  have  been  O  K'd  in  the  voucher  book, 
giving  the  proper  distribution  therein,  and  posting 
from  this  book  not  only  the  totals  at  the  end  of 


66  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

the  month,  but  oft-times  other  items  as  may  be 
found  necessary.  In  this  case,  the  bills  are  fre- 
quently entered  in  the  voucher  record  and  the 
vouchers  made  out  for  them  a  considerable  time 
before  they  are  paid;  but,  of  course,  it  is  assumed 
that  after  having  been  once  entered  in  the  voucher 
record,  the  account  may  be  paid  at  any  time  there- 
after convenient  without  any  further  examination 
and  that  the  time  of  payment  be  entered  in  the 
voucher  record. 

This  use  of  the  voucher  record  it  has  not 
appeared  to  me  to  be  the  proper  one.  It  is  fre- 
quently the  case  where  records  are  handled  in  this 
manner  that  vouchers  become  mislaid  and  cause  a 
considerable  annoyance  before  they  can  be  found 
or  if  necessary  duplicated.  There  does  not  seem 
to  be  any  necessity  in  my  mind  for  the  issuance  of  a 
voucher  until  such  time  as  a  check  can  be  made 
for  the  payment  of  the  same,  and  I  also  argue  that 
the  voucher  number  and  the  check  number,  if  pos- 
sible, should  agree,  as  it  facilitates  any  examination 
which  may  be  necessary  thereafter  and  renders 
checking  and  auditing  remarkably  easy. 

If  a  voucher  book  is  handled  in  this  manner,  dis- 
tributing the  purchases  of  all  description  to  their 
different  departments,  and  also  all  expenses  of  the 
house,  it  removes  the  necessity  for  extra  columns 
in  the  cash  book  and  it  also  removes  all  distribution 
from  the  cash  book,  thus  affording  a  uniform  method 
for  the  distribution  of  goods  purchased  and  expenses 


LOOSE  LEAF  ;jOOK-KEEPING.  67 

incurred,  and  by  so  doing  it  forms  a  proper  basis 
for  securing  automatically  the  most  essential  stat- 
istics of  the  business. 

Another  advantage  of  handling  the  voucher 
record  on  this  plan  is  that,  it  can  be  kept  in  exact 
balance  with  the  bank  and  the  total  amount  of  the 
vouchers  issued  for  a  given  period  must  also  be  the 
total  amount  of  the  checks  issued  during  the  same 
period.  If  there  are  no  cash  disbursements  except 
through  the  medium  of  petty  cash  (which  is 
described  herewith,  and  which  may  be  handled  in  the 
same  manner  through  the  voucher  record,)  the 
voucher  record  will  also  balance  with  the  cash  book 
for  any  given  period. 

The  best  method  of  handling  "Petty  Cash"  where 
everything  is  paid  by  check  and  vouchered,  is  to 
draw  .check  for  as  much  as  needed,  say  $100.  and 
open  a  "Petty  Cash"  account  in  general  ledger,  to 
which  account  the  amount  is  charged. 

At  any  given  period  the  cashier  should  voucher 
the  petty  expenses  for  the  period  and  run  them 
through  in  the  general  way,  drawing  check  for  the 
amount.  Suppose  at  the  end  of  the  week  the 
amount  paid  out  of  "Petty  Cash"  was  $43.80,  the 
balance  would  be  $56.20  and  when  check  was  cashed 
for  expenditures  it  would  restore  the  petty  cash  to 
its  original  amount  $100.00  charged  in  general 
ledger. 

The  distribution  in  the  voucher  book,  of  course, 
depends  entirely  upon  the  business  followed  and 
differs  in  almost  every  case.  The  main  idea  in 


68  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

arranging  a  voucher  book,  should  be  to  introduce 
columns  for  such  expenditures  as  come  at  frequent 
intervals  during  the  month,  and  to  introduce  these 
columns  in  such  continuity  as  will  bring  the  separate 
and  necessary  data  together,  and  sundry  columns 
should  be  introduced  wherein  items  may  be  entered 
for  which  no  columns  have  been  provided.  It  will 
be  found  possible  by  this  method  to  reduce  to  a 
large  extent  the  width  of  the  voucher  record,  and 
by  so  reducing  it,  make  it  more  convenient  to 
handle  and  thus  easier  to  use.  The  various  distribu- 
tion columns  used  in  the  voucher  record,  and  also, 
of  course,  upon  the  voucher,  are  usually  designated 
by  number  or  letter  which  becomes  familiar  to  the 
cashier  or  book-keeper.  The  following  distribution 
is  from  the  voucher  of  a  Railway  Equipment  Co., 
and  distribution  of  charges  is  herewith  given. 

A. — Machinery. 

B.— General  Tools. 

C.— Belting. 

D. — Materials. 

E. — Productive  labor. 

F. — Freight  and  expense  on  products. 

G. — Commissions. 

H . — Advertising. 

I. —  Salesmen's  Salaries. 

K. — Office  salaries. 

J. —  Traveling  expense. 

L. — Printing  and  Stationary. 

M. — Postage. 

N.—  Legal  and  Patents. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  69 

O. — Office  and  general  expense. 

P. — Non-productive  labor. 

Q. — Shops  and  supplies. 

R.— Tools. 

S. — Telephone  and  Telegraph. 

T. — Insurance. 

IL— Water  tax. 

V. — Fuel  and  light. 
W.— Rent. 

It  will  be  seen  by  a  person  who  studies  this 
arrangement  a  little,  that,  while  there  are  a  large 
number  of  divisions  in  this  voucher  it  is  not  well 
put  together,  and  a  better  arrangement  of  it  would 
be  as  follows : 

Factory  merchandise — D. 

Operating  expense — E,  U,  V. 

Selling  expense— F,  G,  H,  I,  J. 

General  expense— K,  L,  M,  N,  O,  P,  S,  T,  W. 

Machinery  and  fixtures — A,  B,  C,  Q,  R. 

By  arranging  the  voucher  record  in  the  manner 
last  suggested,  the  reader  will  see  that  specific  dis- 
bursements are  aggregated  according  to  their 
purpose,  and  that  at  the  end  of  the  quarter,  half- 
year,  or  year,  it  becomes  a  very  easy  matter  when 
these  different  columns  are  properly  arranged,  to 
bring  together  the  disbursements  of  the  various 
departments,  enabling  a  statement  to  be  made,  which 
is  simple,  very  easy,  both  to  make  and  to  compre- 
hend, and  at  the  same  time  is  absolutely  the  most 
explicit  analysis  of  the  expenditures  that  could 
possibly  be  produced.  Taking  the  above  for  ex- 


70 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


ample,  we  find  that  the  arrangement  and  aggregation 
of  these  columns  given  in  toto  (we  will  say  for  the 
year,)  furnishes  figures  for  the— 

Factory  merchandise  expenditures. 

Operating  expenses. 

Selling  expenses. 

Machinery  and  fixtures. 

The  voucher  record  of  one  of  the  largest  packing 
houses  of  the  United  States  consists  of  the  follow- 
ing columns.  (See  plates  48-49,  chapter  15.) 

Date. 

Voucher  number. 

In  favor  of. 

Accounts  payable. 

Advance  payments. 

Date  paid. 


C  Cattle. 

Hogs. 

Calves. 

Sheep. 

Store. 

Store  expense. 

General  expense. 
.  Advanced  payments, 


GENERAL  LEDGER.  < 


BRANCHES.  <! 


Folio. 

Check. 

Purchases. 

Expenses. 

Equipment 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 


71 


SUNDRIES. 


OPERATING  LEDGER.  < 


f  Account, 
j  Folio. 
1  Check, 
i  Amount. 

Beef  Dept. 
Pork  Dept. 
Veal  Dept. 
Mutton  Dept. 
Provision   Dept, 
Other. 
Folio. 
Check. 
Amount. 


This  voucher  sheet  is  an  admirable  one  for  the 
class  of  business  and  for  the  purposes  designed, 
which  is  to  voucher  prior  to  payment.  This  feature 
I  nave  referred  to  in  an  earlier  portion  of  this  article. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  give  an  extended  list  of 
different  arrangements  for  vouchers.  Such  a  list 
would  be  interminable,  as  each  business  requires 
an  entirely  different  arrangement  to  suit  different 
peculiar  needs ;  but  my  object  has  been  to  show  two 
or  three  in  order  to  give  the  book-keeper  a  gen- 
eral idea  of  the  proper  account  distribution  method. 

Where  a  very  large  number  of  distribution  ac- 
counts is  required  the  combination  of  a  long  and 
short  leaf  may  be  used,  the  short  being  used  only 
for  the  columnar  distribution  and  not  having  on  it 


72 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 


73 


74  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

the  data  regarding  name,  amount,  etc.,  etc.     Such 
cases  are   however  rare. 

For  analysis  or  statistical  purposes  only,  where 
a  more  minute  distribution  of  a  certain  amount  may 
be  required  columnar  ruled  sheets  may  be  provided 
and  kept  in  a  separate  binder. 

I  will  give  one  more  example,  being  the  voucher 
register  of  a  large  Coffin  and  Casket  Manufacturing 
Company.  (See  two  plates,  No.  8.)  This  voucher 
register  is  not  to  be  used  until  the  bill  is  paid.  The 
arrangement  is  as  follows : 

Date 

Number 

Name 

Amount 

Discount 

OPERATING  DEPARTMENT 

f  Outside  Box 

LUMBER.  J  Chestnut 

j  Red   Cedar 

|^  California  Red  Wood 

r  shop 

HARDWARE.  1  ^     i 

I  Casket 

EMBALMING.      Department 
ZINC.      Shop 

f  Cabinet 
GLUB-  I  Cloth 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


75 


DRY  GOODS. 


LABOR. 


Cloth  Room 
Sewing  Room 
Sewing  Room 
Cloth  Room 
Machine    Dept. 
Zinc  Dept. 
Sundries 

Freight  In 
Sundries 


GENERAL  EXPENSES. 


Personal 

Freight  Out 

Miscellaneous  Expense 

Ledger  A. 

Ledger  B. 

General  Ledger 
The  totals  of  the  first  nineteen  columns  added 
show  the  entire  operating  expense.  The  totals  of  the 
next  six  columns  added  shows  the  general  and  sell- 
ing expense,  and  the  totals  of  the  entire  twenty-five 
columns  added,  balances  the  totals  of  the  amount 
and  discount  columns  added.  The  size  of  this  form 
is  only  11x17  both  pages  being  used  across  the  book. 
As  much  as  possible,  however,  it  is  preferable 
in  Loose  Leaf  records  to  make  the  sheet  long  enough 
to  carry  all  the  matter  on  one  side.  If  carried  clear 
across  on  both  sides,  that  is  made  folio  form,  it  be- 
comes inconvenient  to  eliminate  old  or  filled  sheets, 
as  only  one  half  of  a  certain  sheet  record  would 
inevitably  remain  in  the  binder  if  leaves  were  re- 
moved at  any  time. 


76  LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 

CHAPTER  7. 

LOOSE-LEAF     CASH     BOOKS.       THE     AD- 
VANTAGES OF  THE  PERPETUAL 
SYSTEM. 

Those  book-keepers  and  business  men  who  do  not 
understand  the  principles  of  loose  leaf  book-keep- 
ing, and  are  not  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  most  per- 
fect record  of  all  transactions  can  be  kept  in  this 
manner,  hold  up  their  hands  in  holy  horror  when 
the  subject  of  a  loose  leaf  cash  book  is  mentioned. 
Of  all  the  books  in  the  world  they  consider  it  most 
essential  that  a  cash  book  should  be  bound  and 
sewed,  probably  laboring  under  the  impression  that 
the  cashier  can  readily  manipulate  the  cash  into  his 
own  pockets  by  the  abstraction  of  leaves.  In  form- 
ing this  impression  they  forget  however,  that  the 
cash  book  is  a  continuous  performance,  and  that 
the  loss  of  any  leaves  would  be  quite  as  apparent 
in  a  loose  leaf  book  as  it  would  in  a  sewed  book.  A 
more  apparent  point  which  they  overlook  is  the  fact 
that  if  the  cashier  was  desirous  of  peculating,  he 
would  certainly  be  an  imbecile  to  attempt  abstract- 
ing leaves,  but  his  plan  unquestionably  with  the  loose 
leaf  system  of  cash-keeping  would  be  similar  to  what 
he  would  follow  in  case  he  used  sewed  books,  name- 
ly, by  making  false  entries,  erroneous  footings  or 
forwardings ;  and  it  would  be  fully  as  easy  to  accomp- 
Ush  this  in  one  style  of  books  as  another. 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  77 

I  shall  endeavor  in  this  article  to  give  a  clear  idea 
of  the  advantages  of  loose  leaf  cash  books,  and  I  am 
very  sure  if  you  ever  use  a  loose  leaf  cash  book  in 
your  business,  you  will  continue  its  use  indefinitely. 
The  fact  of  the  matter  is,  I  know  of  several  large 
firms  who  have  as  yet  not  made  up  their  minds  to 
the  introduction  of  the  loose  leaf  accounting  sys- 
tem entire,  that  are  using  loose-leaf  cash  books  to 
their  perfect  satisfaction. 

As  is  well  known  the  regular  cash  book  is  usually 
quite  a  large  book,  with  such  firms  as  use  their  cash 
book  for  the  distribution  of  their  accounts.  With 
the  sewed  book  there  is  a  very  great  loss  of  space 
for  the  reason  that  in  some  lines  ot  business,  notably 
in  wholesale  trade  or  the  manufacturing  interests, 
the  debit  side  of  each  book  fills  up  much  more  rap- 
idly than  the  credit  side  with  the  exception  perhaps 
of  the  regular  monthly  pay  day  for  local  bills,  where 
the  conditions  are  reversed  and  thus  frequently  loss 
of  space  occurs  upon  the  debit  side.  In  the  retail 
business  it  some  times  happens  that  the  debit  side 
of  the  cash  book  will  have  the  largest  amount  of 
unused  space  and  the  credit  side  will  be  the  most 
voluminous. 

With  the  loose  leaf  system  of  cash  books  every 
line  of  each  side  can  be  utilized. 

Where  the  distribution  idea  is  carried  out  in  the 
cash  book,  in  a  sewed  book  it  necessitates  a  large 
number  of  columns  on  the  credit  side,  and  of  course 
a  similar  size  leaf  on  the  debit  side.  A  book  of  600 
to  800  pages,  so  large  as  this,  is  necessarily  quite 


78  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

heavy  and  cumbersome.  It  is  difficult  to  post  from, 
for  the  reason  that  it  is  usually  placed  at  the  left 
side  of  the  ledger  in  posting  and  the  distance  from 
the  debit  posting  item  to  account  in  the  ledger  is 
considerable.  It  is  a  fact  which  most  book-keepers 
readily  appreciate  that  the  nearer  they  can  get  their 
posting  item  to  the  ledger  account,  the  easier  it  is 
to  make  their  posting  and  the  more  certain  is  their 
work.  It  is  very  hard  sometimes  where  the  eye  has 
to  travel  a  considerable  distance,  and  over  a  large 
field  of  figures  to  carry  the  correct  amount  in  every 
case,  and  it  sometimes  occurs  that  a  book-keeper 
must  refer  a  second  or  a  third  time  to  the  amount 
to  be  posted  in  order  to  assure  himself  of  its  cor- 
rectness, in  which  case  the  distance  from  the  ledgei 
cuts  quite  a  considerable  figure.  Then  again,  in  the 
old  style  books,  the  ledger  folio  is  checked  before 
the  posting  item,  which  frequently  has  to  be  sought 
for  among  a  number  of  others.  Of  course  the  loss 
of  time  in  one  posting  on  this  account  is  not  very 
great,  but  it  amounts  to  considerable  in  the  course 
of  time  with  many  thousand  postings  to  make. 

The  loose  leaf  cash  book,  is  on  a  different  princi- 
ple. The  book  of  current  work  consists  of  a  spring 
back  holder,  of  which  more  will  be  said  later,  where- 
in are  placed  a  sufficient  number  of  leaves  to  last 
for  one  month  or  any  period  that  may  be  suitable. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  cash  book  necessary 
to  handle  for  posting  purpose  is  very  light  and  is 
easy  to  manipulate.  It  is  also  plain  that  some 
houses  should  have  a  holder  for  cash  receipts  and 


LOOSE  LEA.F  BOOK-KEEPING.  79 

one  for  cash  disbursements,  making  it  also  unneces- 
sary for  the  book-keepers  to  handle  the  disburse- 
ment side  in  cash  book,  in  making  their  credit  post- 
ings. It  will  be  readily  seen  from  this  fact  that  if  a 
number  of  different  ledgers  are  used,  a  number  of 
different  cash  holders  may  be  also  prepared  and 
•used  for  cash  receipts,  for  instance  ledger  one,  two, 
three  and  four  would  be  represented  by  cash  holders 
for  each  ledger.  Ledger  A  to  K  or  L  to  Z  would 
be  represented  by  ''Receipts"  holders  for  A  to  K 
or  L  to  Z.  Where  the  books  are  arranged  in  series, 
the  cash  book  holders  can  represent  ledgers  in 
series  A,  series  B.  series  C,  etc.  In  case  the  books 
are  handled  in  this  manner,  the  cashier  usually  has 
a  general  cash  holder,  and  after  the  entries  are 
made  in  series  A,  for  instance,  total  amount  of  re- 
ceipts of  the  day  for  series  A  is  transferred  to  gen- 
eral cash  holder  in  its  proper  column  and  the  total 
amount  of  the  other  series  in  a  similar  manner.  It 
will  be  readily  seen  what  a  great  advantage  is  offered 
in  this  one  point  for  a  large  business  as  the  cash  re- 
ceipts can  be  handled  by  the  general  book-keeper 
or  the  book-keeper  in  charge  of  each  ledger  or  series 
without  interfering  at  all  with  each  other  or  with  the 
cashier,  and  the  work  can  be  simultaneously  per- 
formed ;  consequently  the  posting  in  each  series  of 
ledgers  both  debit  and  credit  can  be  made  by  the 
same  person,  and  it  is  never  necessary  to  get  be- 
hind with  this  posting  on  account  of  the  inability  of 
an  individual  book-keeper  to  secure  the  cash  book 
for  posting  purpose  at  the  proper  time. 


80  LOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 

At  the  end  of  the  month  the  cash  receipt  leaves 
are  removed  from  the  holders  and  placed  in  perma- 
nent binders.  Th'is  can  be  done  for  each  ledger,  or 
series,  if  preferred,  in  which  case  the  total  credit 
postings  from  each  ledger  are  kept  continuous  and 
together,  and  made  to  prove  up  for  any  given  period, 
six  months  or  a  year,  if  necessary,  without  difficulty. 
The  total  cash  disbursements  are  also  kept  together 
and  the  house  has  the  advantage  of  a  continuous 
record  of  cash  receipts  from  day  to  day  and  year 
to  year,  and  a  continuous  record  of  cash  disburse- 
ments from  day  to  day  and  year  to  year.  Of  course 
as  the  leaves  are  only  in  use  for  a  current  month  and 
handled  but  very  little  in  posting  before  they  are 
transferred,  they  are  kept  very  clean  and  the  perma- 
nent cash  book  although  it  may  be  old  in  years  is 
never  thumb  marked,  ragged  or  dirty. 

With  the  loose  leaf  cash  book,  it  is  a  general  prac- 
tice to  have  the  leaves  of  different  colors,  usually 
running  debit  leaves  in  white  and  the  credit  leaves 
in  buff  or  blue.  The  reason  from  this  is  that  the 
cashier  becomes  accustomed  to  the  fact  that  his  dis- 
bursement book  is  buff  or  blue  and  it  is  impossi- 
ble for  him  to  make  an  error  in  entering  his  dis- 
bursements. 

Of  course  the  general  feature  of  loose  leaf  books 
prevails  in  cash  books,  namely,  that  after  having 
once  started  loose  leaf  cash  system  it  will  be  only 
necessary  to  purchase  such  binders  as  are  needed 
from  time  to  time,  and,  as  these  binders  hold  1,000 
sheets  or  more,  or  2,000  pages,  it  will  be  seen  that 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  81 

there  will  be  little  necessity  for  the  purchasing  of 
new  binders,  thus  in  order  to  replenish  the  cash 
book,  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  purchase  additional 
leaves. 

The  size  of  the  leaves  in  the  loose  leaf  cash  book 
are  usually  much  smaller  than  sewed  books,  but 
may  be  determined  entirely  by  the  user,  and  it  is 
not  necessary  to  have  the  receipt  leaf  and  the  dis- 
bursement leaf  of  the  same  size,  unless  it  should  be 
a  matter  of  greater  convenience  or  unless  it  is  de- 
sired to  carry  the  receipts  and  disbursement  pages 
in  the  same  holder  and  afterward  in  the  same  binder, 
which  may  easily  be  done  in  a  small  business  re- 
quiring only  one  cash  book.  A  simple  ruling  is 
shown  in  Plates  Nos.  9  and  10. 

The  matter  of  safety  is  perhaps  that  which  is  of 
the  most  interest  to  the  business  man  in  considera- 
tion of  the  Loose  Leaf  System  of  keeping  cash.  In 
the  early  part  of  this  chapter  I  referred  to  that  mat- 
ter of  safety  as  far  as  the  abstraction  of  leaves  is  con- 
cerned. I  will  add  to  this  the  fact  that  these  leaves 
can  be  folioed  consecutively  at  the  time  they  are 
made,  in  fact  I  should  advise  all  Loose  Leaf  cash 
books  to  be  manufactured  in  this  manner.  It  will 
be  manifestly  impossible  under  this  arrangement  for 
any  leaves  to  disappear  whether  they  are  blank  or 
written  upon,  without  their  absence  being  imme- 
diately discovered. 

Another  point  which  I  consider  a  great  advantage 
is  the  fact  that  the  cash  book  can  be  kept  more 
secluded.  In  ordinary  lines  of  business  the  cash 


82 


LOOSE  L^Ax'  BOOK-KEEPING. 


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book  lasts  from  one  to  two  years  and  this  record 
of  cash  transactions  of  the  house  being  bound  must 
necessarily  be  passed  from  book-keeper  to  book- 
keeper, and  is  open  to  the  prying  eye  of  any  em- 
ploye of  the  house,  whereas  under  the  loose  leaf 
plan  the  only  section  of  the  book  which  is  open  to  the 
book-keepers  is  the  current  monthly  entries  of  cash 
receipts.  They  are  not  interested  in  disbursements, 
such  being  only  handled  by  the  head  book-keeper 
or  cashier  and  kept  in  a  separate  binder.  As  soon 
as  the  monthly  work  is  completed  and  the  balance 
carried  forward,  the  last  leaves  from  the  different 
binders  are  placed  in  the  transfer  cash  book,  and 
these  books  may  be  kept  in  a  vault  or  if  necessary 
in  a  private  safe  absolutely  free  from  inspection  of 
anyone  and  upon  this  account  alone  I  contend  that 
every  business  firm  would  improve  their  cash  sys- 
tem by  the  introduction  of  loose  leaf  books.  In  case 
of  an  audit  or  expert  examination  the  advantage  of 
this  system  may  be  very  readily  seen,  as  the  same 
can  be  conducted  without  interfering  in  the  least 
with  the  business  of  the  office. 

The  same  recapitulation  of  cash  entries  should  be 
maintained  for  the  proving  up  of  the  day's  posting 
and  the  daily  balance  of  your  books  as  has  been 
described  in  ledger  chapters  for  merchandise  post- 
ing. This  can  be  done  with  very  little  extra  labor 
and  proves  the  books  actually  correct  from  clay  to 
day. 

Taking  off  the  cash  balance  with  loose  leaf  cash 
book  is  similar  to  the  operation  in  any  other  form. 


84  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

The  total  amount  of  the  various  credit  columns  must 
be  deducted  from  the  total  amount  of  the  various 
debit  columns  and  the  difference  is  the  balance. 

The  loose  leaf  cash  book  will  be  recognized  by 
every  one  using  it  as  fully  as-  necessary  and  con- 
venient as  any  other  book  in  use,  and  its  advantages 
will  be  much  better  comprehended  after  actual  use 
than  can  be  done  from  the  description  given  in  any 
written  review. 

Book-keepers  before  entering  in  cash  book  should 
assort  their  cash  receipt  items  after  the  manner  of 
their  ledger  system  to  facilitate  posting.  Then  A 
to  K  ledger  items  alphabetically  arranged  would 
post  consecutively  in  A  to  K  ledger,  by  running 
once  through  the  ledger,  and  would  not  necessitate 
the  usual  hop,  skip  and  jump  from  the  front  of  the 
ledger  to  the  middle,  then  the  back,  then  the  front 
and  so  on.  A  little  care  in  this  particular  makes 
posting  easy. 

A  book-keeper  of  one  of  the  largest  wholesale 
houses  has  the  following  to  say  in  regard  to  loose 
leaf  cash  books : 

"Substitution  of  the  Loose  Leaf  System  for  bound 
books  of  original  entry  is  being  made  by  many  of 
our  largest  business  houses — the  idea  running 
through  all  departments.  The  cash  book  run  on  the 
unit  basis  can  be  arranged  to  advantage  as  one  user 
has  it,  viz. :  A  separate  cash  book  for  each  book- 
keeper, thereby  eliminating  the  necessity  of  waiting 
for  'some  one  else  to  get  through.'  ' 

"Ruling  for  cash  books  representing  country  ac- 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  85 

counts  is  uniform  as  no  items  appear  on  these  books 
except  credits  and  charges  to  customer's  accounts, 
—ruling  for  cash  book  for  city  and  purchase  ledgers 
is  of  columnar  nature  and  all  are  uniform  as  to  size 
of  leaf,  Current  sheets  are  held  in  spring  back 
holders  (capacity  about  fifty  sheets)  and  at  end  of 
month  are  filed  in  permanent  binder.  The  cashier 
in  entering  the  items,  and  the  book-keeper  in  post- 
ing same,  have  only  the  light  binder  and  a  few  sheets 
to  handle  against  the  cumbersome  columnar  cash 
book  formerly  in  use." 

"A  great  saving  of  paper  is  also  accomplished  by 
using  both  sides  of  every  sheet,  the  credits  being 
filed  together  and  the  charges  by  themselves.  In 
the  sewed  cash  book  the  charge  side  is  practically 
wasted  as  the  cash  charges  on  the  customer's  cash 
book  are  few  and  far  between.  The  same  advantage 
is  apparent  in  the  use  of  the  Unit  System  for  original 
entries  as  appears  in  the  ledgers, — condensation  and 
ease  of  locating  entries  made  at  any  time  as  no 
musty  bound  books  have  to  be  gone  through.  There 
is  only  one  place  to  find  the  wanted  entry." 

It  is  not  absolutely  necessary  that  the  cash  re- 
ceived and  cash  disbursed  leaves  for  each  day  be 
filed  together.  They  may  be  filed  in  different  bind- 
ers, or  all  in  one  binder  with  a  division  leaf  (having 
on  it  a  projecting  tab)  between  them.  Each  daily 
balance  may  be  shown  at  the  end  of  day's  entries 
on  its  proper  sheet,  and  after  once  balancing  the 
general  cash  sheets  no  further  comparison  would 


86  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

be  necessary  between   the   sets   of  leaves   and   they 
may  be  separated  for  riling  purposes. 

It  is  also  possible  to  have  the  receipt  leaves  and 
the  disbursement  leaves  of  a  different  size  as  well 
as  a  different  color.  In  this  case  separate  transfer 
binders  must  be  provided  for  each  size. 


CHAPTER  8. 

LOOSE-LEAF     JOURNALS— HOW     TO 
OPERATE  THEM. 

In  considering  the  subject  of  interchangeable 
leaves  for  the  journal,  it  would  be  well  to  consider 
the  status  of  the  journal  at  the  present  time. 

The  antiquated  method  of  book-keeping  necessi- 
tated the  use  of  a  sales-book,  a  day-book,  and  finally 
a  journal,  in  which  was  summarized  all  of  the  trans- 
actions of  the  business,  including  record  of  sales 
and  it  was  usually  the  case  that  the  posting  of  the 
debits  of  customers  account  were  made  from  journal 
entries.  The  improvements  of  book-keeping  in  re- 
cent years — which  will  be  shown  more  clearly  in 
Chapter  on  Bill  and  Charge  System — obviates  neces- 
sity of  entering  sales  in  sales  book  or  journal  and 
eliminates  entirely  the  day  book. 

Where  manifold  billing  systems  (such  as  the  bill 
and  charge)  are  not  used,  the  sales  journal  is  very 
frequently  done  away  with  by  the  use  of  the  Loose 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  87 

Leaf  Order  Blank  System.  In  this  the  orders  are 
entered  on  separate  sheets  and  when  filled,  are  billed, 
and  then  the  sheets  are  numbered  consecutively, 
and  filed  on  binders.  The  posting  is  made  direct 
from  these  sheets  to  the  ledger  and  thus  the  use  of 
a  sales  book  or  journal  for  entering  these  charges 
becomes  unnecessary. 

On  account  of  this  fact  the  uses  of  the  journal 
became  less  and  less  and  many  a  house  operating 
to  the  extent  of  several  thousand  dollars  monthly, 
finds  it  necessary  to  use  only  one  or  two  pages  of 
the  journal.  Smaller  houses  have  continued  the  use 
of  the  journal,  in  some  cases  for  entering  sales  and 
in  a  number  of  cases  for  making  record  of  purchases 
with  charge  to  merchandise,  and  credit  to  the  in- 
dividual accounts.  As  the  journal  is  an  intermed- 
iary book,  its  uses  can  be  gradually  lessened.  Many 
houses  do  not  keep  any  purchase  ledger  whatever, 
and  do  not  make  journal  entries  of  purchases  or 
sales,  and  thus  reduce  the  necessary  journal  entries 
to  the  salary  items,  to  the  traveling  expense  items, 
and  to  the  general  posting  necessary  in  the  closing 
entries  from  month  to  month,  and  the  closing  en- 
tries of  the  year. 

This  gradually  eliminates  the  journal  from  the 
number  of  books  necessary  to  be  kept  by  business 
houses,  and  the  great  reduction  made  in  the  journal 
entries  of  the  month  of  course  to  a  certain  extent 
obviates  necessity  of  having  the  iournal  in  loose  leaf 
form,  and  it  is  therefore  quite  proper  and  in  many 


88  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

cases  is  left  to  the  journal  already  in  use,  or  a  small 
sewed  book  secured  for  this  purpose. 

In  a  number  of  large  houses  where  ,a  purchase 
journal  is  used  the  journal  is  arranged  in  columnar 
form,  and  in  this  way  acts  as  a  distribution  book 
crediting  party  from  whom  purchases  are  made,  and 
debiting  the  different  departments  or  commodities 
respectively  by  the  different  columns  in  the  journal, 
wherever  this  is  the  case,  the  book  must  necessarily 
be  very  wide  and  when  a  sewed  book  is  used  for  this 
purpose,  it  is  heavy,  unwieldy  and  hard  to  manage. 

In  the  Loose  Leaf  System  these  leaves  can  be 
made  of  any  size  and  any  number  of  colors  desired, 
as  is  the  case  with  ledgers.  Loose  Leaf  Journals  are 
usually  much  shorter  books  than  the  sewed  journals, 
as  the  leaves  can  be  introduced  as  rapidly  as  they 
are  needed. 

As  it  is  unnecessary  to  carry  in  the  current  holder 
more  than  a  sufficient  number  of  leaves  for  the 
transactions  of  the  month,  it  will  be  readily  seen 
that  this  book  although  it  may  be  large  is  neither 
weighty  nor  bulky  and  can  be  handled  with  ease 
by  the  book-keeper,  placed  in  a  convenient  position 
for  his  posting;  and  on  account  of  the  leaves  being 
shorter  there  is  less  liability  of  error;  and  after  the 
month  is  closed  the -sheets  are  carried  to  a  binder 
more  permanent  in  its  character  and  on  this  ac- 
count there  is  no  further  necessity  for  handling 
them.  Thus  the  leaves  are  kept  clean  and  smooth. 
A  spring  back  holder  may  be  used  for  the  daily 
work  and  transferred  monthly  if  desired. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  89 

Another  important  feature  of  the  Loose  Leaf 
Journal  is  the  fact  that  the  account  of  the  month's 
business  is  removed  to  a  more  permanent  record 
which  is  usually  kept  in  a  vault  or  safe.  The  busi- 
ness secrets  of  the  house  which  are  frequently  ex- 
posed, in  a  sewed  book,  to  the  prying  eyes  of  those 
who  are  not  interested,  are  kept  secluded  and  secure 
as  the  only  records  necessary  for  the  book-keeper 
to  carry  upon  the  public  desk  are  those  of  the  cur- 
rent month. 

The  binders  usually  used  in  this  connection  are 
what  are  termed  sectional  post  binders,  the  sections 
or  joints  being  made  in  different  lengths  with  screw 
attachment,  capable  of  being  elongated,  as  it  is  de- 
sired by  the  book-keeper,  and  usually  six  inches  suf- 
fices, as  this  space  will  accommodate  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  one  thousand  sheets,  making  a  volume  fully 
as  bulky  as  anyone  desires  to  handle.  One  feature 
of  this  binder  is  that  it  will  hold  any  number  of 
sheets,  few  or  many,  with  equal  security. 

Some  firms  who  do  a  very  large  business  have 
successfuly  combined  the  journal  with  the  cash 
book,  and  usually  the  title  appears  under  heading 

-"Cash  Journal" — there  can  be  no  objection  raised 
to  this  method  except  one  of  technicality,  for  there 
is  no  reason  whatever  why  the  two  books  cannot 
be  successfully  combined  and  as  the  journalization 
has  decreased  so  much  in  late  years  a  combination 
effected  would  not  materially  increase  the  cash-book. 
I  will  give  an  illustration  of  this  form  as  adopted 


00 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  91 

by  Stockton  Bates,  C.  P.  A.,  Pa.,  which  is  in  itself 
simplicity  and  good  form.     (See  Plate  No.   13). 

In  the  general  Loose  Leaf  Journal  care  should 
be  taken  never  to  transfer  leaves  until  filled,  bal- 
anced and  posted  and  I  consider  it  safest  not  to 
make  any  transfers  of  leaves  from  any  book  until 
after  the  monthly  balance  is  taken  and  proven.  The 
business  however  need  not  wait  for  a  removal  of 
the  leaves,  but  can  be  continued  independently  as 
desired  by  the  book-keeper.  Of  course  in  all  of  the 
suggestions  offered  in  this  book  it  is  understood 
that  the  general  rules  of  double  entry  book-keeping 
apply  and  without  going  into  detail  in  regard  to 
these  rules,  I  only  endeavor  in  as  plain  and  simple 
a  way  as  possible  to  point  out  the  changes  of  method 
necessary  for  the  proper  use  of  loose  leaf  books. 


92  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

CHAPTER   9. 

SPECIAL  BOOKS  — INCLUDING  ACCOUNT 
OF  SALES,  COMPARATIVE  STATEMENT 
BOOKS,  PAY-ROLLS,  TIME  BOOKS,  STOCK 
BOOKS,  COST  ACCOUNTING  BOOKS,  PER- 
PETUAL TRIAL  BALANCE  BOOKS,  PUR- 
CHASE RECORD,  ETC.,  ETC. 

The  variety  of  Special  Books  which  can  be  manu- 
factured and  handled  to  advantage  by  the  Loose 
Leaf  System  is  endless.  Every  business  has  its  own 
peculiar  needs  in  this  direction,  and  to  supply  those 
needs  no  method  has  been  discovered  up  to  date  so 
satisfactory  as  the  loose  leaf,  for  the  reason  that  in 
a  primary  handling  of  the  books  a  very  small  num- 
ber of  leaves  may  be  used,  rendering  labor  very 
much  easier  and  more  satisfactory;  then  again,  the 
books  do  not  constantly  have  to  be  replaced  by  new 
ones.  The  binders  used  in  the  majority  of  cases 
for  special  books  have  a  capacity  of  1,000  leaves 
or  2,000  pages;  while  this  capacity  may  be  easily 
enlarged,  if  desired,  on  account  of  the  fact  that  the 
binders  are  nearly  always  of  the  sectional  post 
variety.  The  sections  of  posts  are  one  inch  in  length 
and  joined  together  closely  by  a  screw  joint.  Usually 
there  are  four  ornamental  buttons  furnished — two 
of  them  with  one-half  inch  extension,  which  may 
be  used  in  case  a  slight  extension  of  the  book  is 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  93 

desired  and  not  enough  to  use  a  full  inch  section ; 
and  the  other  two  merely  caps  which  are  used  to 
give  a  finished  appearance  to  the  binder  when  it  is 
filled.  It  is  possible  also  to  obtain  one-half  inch 
sections  without  buttons  wherever  these  are  needed. 

The  leaves  in  all  loose  leaf  records  both  ledgers 
and  special  books,  are  usually  punched  with  what  is 
known  as  slit  holes,  that  is  a  hole  about  the  size  of 
the  post,  (in  order  to  allow  the  sheets  to  fit  closely 
over  the  post  of  the  binder),  but  with  a  narrow  slit 
between  the  edge  of  the  leaf  and  the  outer  edge  of 
the  hole.  This  permits  the  slipping  or  springing 
of  the  leaf  around  the  posts  at  any  point  in  the 
binder  when  the  covers  and  leaves  are  spread 
apart.  With  a  round  solid  hole  it  would  be  necessary 
to  remove  the  cover  and  slip  the  leaf  on  from  the 
top,  an  awkward  and  slow  operation.  The  leaves 
are  held  just  as  securely  with  this  slit  hole  as  with 
the  solid  hole  as  the  covers  of  the  binders  are 
pressed  tightly  together  upon  the  leaves  and  locked 
by  means  of  various  devices.  The  slit  being  narrow, 
it  is  impossible  to  extract  a  leaf  without  tearing  it 
unless  the  binder  is  unlocked. 

The  current  use  of  Special  Books  is  usually  opened 
in  a  spring  back  holder,  which  will  carry  about  fifty 
sheets,  although  some  houses  prefer  to  use  two 
binders — one  for  current  work  and  the  other  for 
transferred  work.  These  holders  or  binders  may 
be  gotten  up  in  any  style  desired  by  the  purchaser, 
from  the  plainest  canvas  to  full  leather.  The  binder 
which  is  most  in  use  at  the  present  time  is,  one-half 


91 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


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LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  95 

corduroy  and  one  half  leather,  furnishing  a  very  ex- 
cellent wearing  article  and  one  which  is  found  very 
satisfactory. 

Account  of  Sales  Books  may  be  made  up  in  any 
size  and  style  desired  and  under  any  other  title  re- 
quired. In  some  cases  they  are  termed  "Sales 
Records,"  and  in  still  others  "Comparative  Account 
of  Sales."  This  book  is  used  principally  for  the  pur- 
pose of  recording  the  sales  as  they  occur;  for  the 
purpose  of  crediting  them  to  the  proper  salesman 
or  territory,  or  to  the  mail-order  department ;  or 
to  the  direct  cash  sales  department,  and  only  used 
for  the  purposes  of  distribution  as  recorded,  and  for 
comparative  statements  from  month  to  month  and 
year  to  year.  If  it  is  desirable  for  the  comparative 
statement  to  be  ready  promptly  on  the  first  day  of 
each  month,  it  would  be  well  in  this  book  to  con- 
sider the  25th  day  as  the  end  of  the  month, — the 
months  running  from  the  26th  to  the  25th  inclusive 
This  gives  a  few  days  for  the  arrangement  of  the 
statistics,  and  the  remaining  days  of  the  month  may 
just  as  well  be  carried  on  to  the  sales  of  the  succeed- 
ing month.  Of  course,  this  is  not  necessary  unless 
the  statement  is  desired  for  publication  or  other- 
wise promptly  upon  the  first.  (See  Plate  No.  14). 

Pay  Roll  Hooks  may  be  made  up  with  a  list  of 
employes,  either  divided  into  departments  or  not 
as  the  case  may  be.  These  books  may,  if  desired, 
be  arranged  in  the  manner  of  a  trial  balance  book, 
with  a  short  leaf  and  a  long  leaf,  doing  away  with 


96  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

the  necessity  or  re-writing  the  names.  Frequently 
the  time-book  record  and  the  pay-roll  record  are 
united  in  one  book. 

jStocJc  Books  are  arranged  in  numberless  forms, 
subject  to  the  character  of  the  business  and  its  needs, 
the  principal  intention  of  a  stock  book  being  to  keep 
a  record  of  the  stock  on  hand.  It  should  be  care- 
fully handled,  and  postings  made  from  requisitions, 
so  that  at  the  close  of  any  given  period  the  stock  as 
shown  in  the  stock  book  may  be  produced  in  the 
stock  room ;  or  in  other  words,  the  balance  of  the 
stock  book  for  any  particular  stock  room  should  at 
any  period  be  the  inventory  of  stock  for  that  room. 
In  stock  books  no  record  need  be  kept  of  prices 
whatever. 

Warehouse  Records  are  really  nothing  but  stock 
books  for  warehouse  purposes,  and  are  used  by  the 
largest  houses  to  keep  a  record  of  the  receipt  of 
goods  and  disbursement  of  goods  from  the  particular 
warehouse.  In  this  case,  it  is  usual  to  open  an  ac- 
count with  each  order,  crediting  when  the  goods 
are  taken  into  the  warehouse  and  charging  out  as 
they  are  withdrawn  by  requisition. 

Cost  Accounting  Books.  The  matter  of  cost  ac- 
counting is  one  which  has  troubled  the  brain  of  many 
a  man  engaged  in  the  manufacturing  business,  and 
various  methods  have  been  evolved  in  order  to  ar- 
rive at  the  definite  cost  of  the  finished  product. 
Like  all  other  special  books  the  ruling  and  require- 
ments of  the  sheet  for  a  cost  accounting  record  can- 
not be  clearly  expressed  in  a  manner  that  would  be 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  97 

suitable  to  all  lines,  but  it  must  be  a  subject  for  the 
accounting  department  in  each  particular  manufac- 
turing establishment  to  provide  a  page  suitable  for 
the  purpose.  The  usual  manner,  however,  is  to  open 
an  account  similar  to  a  ledger  account,  with  each 
lot  or  article  as  the  case  may  be,  and  by  the  use  of 
time  recording  devices  and  reports  from  the  various 
departments  through  which  the  article  or  articles 
have  passed  in  the  process  of  manufacture,  from  the 
crude  material  to  the  finished  product,  be  able  to 
compute  the  cost  of  the  material  included  and  of 
the  labor  necessary  to  produce,  and  thus  arrive  at 
the  net  cost  of  the  completed  article  or  lot. 

LOOSE  LEAF  OR  PERPETUAL  TRIAL  BALANCE  BOOKS. 

These  are  made  with  a  long  and  short  leaf.  The 
long  leaf  containing  names  of  the  accounts  and  one 
side  only  of  it  being  used.  The  short  leaves  are 
generally  made  large  enough  to  carry  three  months' 
balances  on  each  side.  They  are  usually  ruled  with 
merely  a  debit  and  a  credit  column.  Some- 
times instead  of  two  columns  they  are  made  with 
four  columns,  the  last  two  being  debit  and  credit  bal- 
ance columns.  In  totaling  these  would  show  the 
total  amount  o?  debits  and  the  total  amount  of 
credits,  and  the  other  columns  would  show  the  bal- 
ances. These  short  sheets  are  made  enough  shorter 
than  the  long  leaves  to  prevent  the  covering  of  the 
name  column  on  the  long  leaves.  As  they  usually 
carry  three  months  on  a  side,  two  of  these  short 
sheets  will  take  care  of  a  year's  business.  Additional 


98  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

short  leaves  may  be  put  in  as  needed,  and  this  does 
away  with  the  re-writing  of  the  names.  The  trial 
balance  book  of  course  may  be  sectionalized  the 
same  as  the  ledgers,  and  each  balanced  separately. 
The  indexing  of  the  trial  balance  book  would  of 
course  follow  the  general  indexing  schenie  of  the 
ledgers.  Where  the  loose  leaf  ledgers,  however,  are 
used  on  a  strictly  alphabetical  or  lexicon  plan,  it  is 
of  course  impossible  to  preserve  the  correct  succes- 
sion of  the  names  on  the  trial  balance  book,  the  only 
way  to  obviate  this  when  opening  your  trial  balance 
book  and  writing  the  names  in,  is  to  leave  blank 
spaces  through  the  book,  and  on  these  blank  spaces 
may  be  entered  the  names  of  new  accounts  in  their 
proper  alphabetical  position  when  they  come  in. 
The  trial  balance  book,  however,  is  nothing  more  or 
less  than  a  proof  of  the  ledger,  and  the  necessity 
for  writing  the  names  in  it  is  seldom  recognized 
now.  The  balances  or  posting  totals  are  usually 
recorded  in  the  balance  book  without  reference  to 
the  names,  and  where  this  is  done  there  is  no  neces- 
sity whatever  for  providing  blank  spaces  for  new 
accounts  to  come  in.  In  such  cases  the  long  leaf 
of  the  trial  balance  book  for  the  names  may  be  elimi- 
nated altogether,  and  the  short  leaves  only  used, 
with  the  names  of  the  months  at  the  top.  The 
amounts  would  then  be  entered  on  these  sheets  one 
after  another  as  taken  from  the  ledger  accounts, 
Of  course  in  the  loose  leaf  trial  balance  book  where 
the  ledger  accounts  are  arranged  on  the  State  plan, 
it  is  an  easy  matter  to  arrange  subdivisions  of  the 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  99 

trial  balance  the  same  as  the  ledgers  are  arranged, 
putting  in  dividing  tabs  and  thus  carrying  into  one 
binder  ultimately  all  the  balance  sheets  covering  a 
number  of  different  ledgers.  Each  book-keeper 
could  be  provided  with  a  few  of  these  balance  sheets 
and  the  final  proof  made  by  the  head  book-keeper. 
Purchase  Record.  This  is  one  of  the  most  ad- 
vantageous loose-leaf  books  for  a  business  house 
or  manufacturing  establishment  no  matter  whether 
their  business  is  large  or  small.  It  may  be  ruled  to 
suit  the  requirements  of  the  case,  the  width  of  the 
columns  varying  to  suit  the  amounts  to  be  entered, 
a  simple  form  being  as  follows:  Size  11x12,  (See 
Plate  No.  15). 

Date, 
Number, 

From  whom  purchased, 

Amount  of  bill, 

Discount, 

Department, 

Rebates, 

O.   K.'s, 

Date  received, 

Date  paid, 

Amount, 

Remarks. 

The  Purchase  Ledger  may  be  dispensed  with  when 
this  record  is  kept,  as  it  accounts  for  all  merchandise 
received  in  the  month  to  which  the  indebtedness 
properly  belongs.  It  eliminates  a  large  quantity  of 
journal  work,  there  being  but  one  journal  entry 


100 


LOOSE    LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 


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LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  101 

necessary  to  cover  the  total  merchandise  received 
for  the  month,  thus  saving  much  journal  and  ledger 
space.  Of  course,  such  expense  as  may  come  in  the 
form  of  bills  or  purchases  should  always  be  handled 
in  this  same  manner,  and  where  the  voucher  system 
is  used,  is  properly  distributed  at  the  time  of  the 
payment  of  the  bill.  It  also  shows  the  amount  of 
unpaid  accounts,  balancing  with  the  Accounts  Pay- 
able Account  in  the  general  ledger  at  the  end  of 
each  month,  and  its  use  faciltates  an  audit  and  avoids 
completely  the  possibility  of  paying  bills  twice.  The 
proper  journal  entries  from  the  purchase  record  at 
the  end  of  the  month  are — 
Purchase  Account  to  Accounts  Payable 

Then  from  the  cash  book  or  voucher  record — • 
Sundry  Accounts  (found  in  Account  Payable  column) 
properly   distributed — to Purchase    Account. 

Clievk  Record.  This  sheet  can  be  run  in  the  Cash 
Book  Binder,  or  in  a  separate  binder  as  preferred, 
and  gives  a  record  of  all  checks  issued,  merely  giv- 
ing the  figures.  The  ruling  upon  this  record  is 
usually, — date,  deposits,  check  number,  amount  of 
check ;  and  in  case  two  or  more  bank  accounts  are 
kept  by  the  firm,  each  bank  account  may  be  repre- 
sented by  its  own  section  on  the  same  check  record, 
and  thus  each  bank  balance  12  attainable  at  a  glance. 

If  desired  separate  sheets  may  be  used  for  each 
bank  account  and  the  sheets  assembled  daily.  The 
use  of  this  record  does  away  with  the  necessity  of 
keeping  check  stubs  and  checks  can  be  blocked  in- 
stead of  books — a  great  saving. 


102 


LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING 


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LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  103 

Department  Sales.  Each  department  store  uses 
a  recapitulation  sheet  and  transfer  binder  giving  the 
day  by  day  sales  for  each  department,  and  also  the 
monthly  and  annual  sales  for  each  department. 
Wherever  there  is  more  than  one  store  in  operation, 
the  monthly  recapitulations  for  the  different  houses 
are  kept  at  headquarters. 

Building  and  Loan  Association.  The  special  ledger 
page  required  for  this  character  of  business  differs 
materially  in  different  cases.  One  of  the  principal  Chi- 
cago institutions  carries  a  page  containing  the  fol- 
lowing information  in  the  heading :  (See  Plate 
No.  16). 

Series  No. 
Certificate  No. 
No  Shares 
Loan  No. 
Loan 
Int.  Pmt. 
Prem.    Pmt. 
Issued  to 
Address 
Transferred  to 

Address 
Withdrawn 
Dues 
Profit  allowed 

Total 
Order  No. 


104 


LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 


Debit  side. 


The  columns  upon  this  sheet  are  arranged  as  fol- 
lows : 

Date 

(Blank) 

Installments 

Fines 

Interest 

Premium 

Loans 

Sundries 

rDate 
Cash 
Folio 

Installments 
Credit  side.    <  Fines 

Interest 
Premium 
Loans 
Sundries 

Secret  Society  Form.  Secret  Societies  use  a 
form  which  contains  in  the  heading  the  name  of  the 
Society,  the  name  and  address  of  the  applicant,  and 
such  other  information  as  is  necessary.  The  col- 
umnar arrangement  is  as  follows  :  (See  Plate  No.  17). 

rDate 

I  Admitted 

Debit  side.  J  ^ees 
^  Dues 

Assessment 
Total 


LuOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  105 

Date 

(Check) 

Fees 
Credit  side.      Dues 

Receipt  No. 

Assessments 

Total 

This  form  is  made  up  in  a  manner  which  will  last 
for  four  years,  on  the  basis  of  there  being  regular 
monthly  payments,  and  under  the  date  running  down 
the  column  each  line  is  printed  with  the  months  o* 
the  year  being  separated  at  the  close  of  each  six 
months'  period  by  a  blank  line. 

Piano  Rent  Contract.  This  can  be  quite  a  small 
page,  8  or  9  inches  long  and  of  the  same  width.  It 
contains  the  name,  address,  rate  per  month  rented 
from,  notified,  Piano  returned,  balance  due.  The 
pages  are  divided  horizontally  into  twelve  columns 
for  each  month  and  so  designated,  and  laterally  into 
four  and  six  sections  having  the  date  and  amount 
of  payment.  On  the  back  of  the  sheet  the  contract 
may  be  printed,  and  all  of  entries  are  thus  made 
upon  the  original  contract.  The  following  is  an  ex- 
ample of  the  usual  rent  contract : 

PIANO  RENT  CONTRACT. 

Stock  Book St.  Louis,   

This    is    to    certify,   That    I have 

this  date  rented  of  ROYAL  PIANO  CO.,  (Incor- 
porated),   One Piano,    Color ,   No. 

.  with  one  Stool  and  one  Cover  for  use  of 


106  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

which  I  agree  to  pay  the  sum  of  $ per 

month,  payable  monthly  in  advance,  without  demand, 
and  expenses  of  moving  same  to  its  destination.  If 
Piano  is  not  kept  three  (3)  months,  I  agree  to  pay 

$ as   return  drayage   on   same.     I 

further  agree  to  surrender  it  in  as  good  condition 
as  when  received  (usual  wear  and  tear  excepted). 

Upon  default  of  any  said  payment,  or  the  removal 
of  the  Instrument  from  the  place  herein  described 
without  written  consent  of  ROYAL  PIANO  CO., 
(Incorporated),  or  at  the  end  of  any  month  for 
which  rent  has  or  should  have  been  paid  in  advance, 
or  upon  the  refunding  of  rent  money  paid  for  time 
yet  unexpired,  ROYAL  PIANO  CO.,  (Incorpor- 
ated), may,  without  liability  for  trespass,  enter  the 
above  described  or  any  other  premises  wherein  said 
Instrument  may  be,  and  take  possession  thereof 
without  notice  or  demand. 

I  further  agree  and  declare  that  no  part  of  this 
contract  is  to  be  construed  as  a  sale  of  said  Instru- 
ment to  me. 

Should  renting  continue  longer  than  six  months, 
in  event  of  my  then  buying  said  Instrument,  as  a 
measure  of  its  depreciation  by  use,  a  sum  equal  to 
six  months'  rental,  and  no  more,  shall  be  deducted 
from  the  valuation  price,  $ 

Signed    

REFERENCES. 

Seed  Issue  Book.  "  The  wholesale  seed  houses  are 
in  the  habit  of  placing  a  certain  amount  of  seed  with 
their  customers  at  certain  times  of  the  year  and  tak- 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  107 

ing  back  the  unsold  part  at  the  close  of  the  year. 
This  requires  a  special  style  of  book,  which  differs 
largely  among  different  houses.  It  is,  however, 
quite  desirable  to  be  able  to  turn  immediately  to  an 
account  and  ascertain  how  much  seed  has  been  sent 
at  different  times,  what  was  returned  and  the  net 
results  of  the  different  seasons.  The  sheet  that  I 
will  give  an  idea  of  is  calculated  to  last  for  five  sea- 
sons. It  is  made  up  as  follows : 

TOWN COUNTY STATE 

POSITION  ON  MAP. . . . 

POPULATION 

Under  this  heading  are  subdivisions  of  about  an 
inch  in  width,  allowing  for  the  number  of  names  of 
customers  in  said  town.    The  headings  of  the  differ- 
ent columns  are  as  follows :     (See  Plate  No.  18). 
Credit  Memo. 
Rating 
Name 
Grass 

Garden  Seeds 
Poultry  Supplies 
Miscellaneous  Goods 
Floral  Designs,  Etc. 
Date 

TRAVELLER— SEASON    1903    --   SEASON 
1904— SEASON 
1905— SEASON  1906— 
SEASON  1907. 
MEMORANDUM. 

Under  the   columns   headed   "Season,"   there   are 
two  sub-heads,  Net  Cash,  and  1st  of  June. 


108  LOOSE   LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

Under  the  "Traveller's"  column  there  is : 
ist  Trip 
2nd  Trip 
Correspondence 

TOTAL  SALES. 

At  the  bottom  of  the  page  the  total  business  se- 
cured from  the  town  is  recapitulated  and  carried 
forward  for  each  season. 

Receiving    Boole— Grain   Elevator.     Headed   with 
the   Sheet   No.  and   Ledger  Folio  and  Year.     The 
columns  are  as  follows : 
Date 

Car          No.          Initial 
Station 

Grain 
Grade 
Premium 
Discount 
Price 

Weight — Gross,  Dock,  Net. 
Over 
Short 

Net  Procteds 
Drafts 
Freight— Rate  Chgd.,  Rate  Paid, 

Date  Paid. 
Amount. 

A  Purchase  Record  Grain  Elevator  Sheet  can  be 
made  up  in  the  following  form  under  Shipments  in 
Transit : 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  109 

Date 

Station 
Car— No.,  Initial. 

Grain 

Grade 
Draft — Amount,  Date. 

Shippers'  Weight 

Date  Unloaded 
(Division  Line) 

Date 

Pro.  No. 

Grain 

Grade 

Time  Shipment 

Price 
Terms 
Amount 

Commission  Book — Receiving.  This  book  is 
one  generally  used  by  all  Produce  Commission 
Houses,  and  contains  a  record  of  shipments  and  of 
sales  from  different  lots.  It  should  be  so  arranged 
that  each  lot  can  be  kept  separately  and  the  amount 
of  sales  rendered  for  the  original  entry.  The 
heading  should  be  simply,  Received  From,  with  the 
Date  and  Lot  Number.  The  sheet  should  be  large 
enough  to  allow  a  full  record  of  the  Lot,  with  the 
double  figure  columns  for  Weights  and  Quantity. 
A  14x18  sheet  is  a  very  desirable  size.  On  the  left- 
hand  side  of  the  page  the  record  of  sales  is  entered 
of  the  lot  in  question ;  giving  the  number  of  the  sale, 
price  sold  at,  amount  and  total.  At  the  lower  left- 


110  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

hand   portion   of  the   sheet   is   entered   the   charges 
on  the  shipment : 

Freight  or  Express 

Commission 

Net  Returns 

Railroad 

Car  No. 

Advanced   Charges 

Stop  Charges 

Local  Charges 

Condition  on  Arrival 

Net  Cost 

On  the  right-hand  side  of  the  sheet  would  be  the 
Total  Gross  Proceeds  and  Rebate.  Total  Expense 
is  down  on  the  left-hand  side  of  the  sheet,  the  Net 
Returns  and  Loss  or  Profit  on  the  transaction.  Also 
it  should  show 

Shrinkage— Acct.  Sales  Rendered 

—Date 

Cash  Remitted,  or 

Cash  Credited  to  Acct.,  with 

Advances  and 

Total. 

Issue  Books.  Large  companies  require  "Issue 
Books"  for  supplies  and  material,  and  their  variety 
is  such  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  give  an  idea  of 
anywhere  near  all  of  them.  I  have  one  before  me 
from  the  Pullman  Company,  "Issues  of  Lumber," 
giving  Thickness,  Grade  and  Kind.  The  columns 
are : 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


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112  LOOSE    LEAF    BOOK-KEEPING. 

Month 

Feet 

Price 

And  these  are  continued  in  a  page  14x18  five 
times,  ruled  alike  on  both  sides,  giving  an  oppor- 
tunity for  a  very  large  number  of  entries  upon  each 
sheet. 

Box  Record.  One  of  the  most  difficult  things  for 
a  Box  Factory  to  do  is  to  keep  track  of  the  large 
number  of  different  sizes,  shapes  and  peculiar  con- 
struction of  their  various  orders,  and  it  is  not  an 
unusual  thing  for  them  to  receive  an  order  merely 
stating:  "Send  me  5,000  boxes  same  size  as  my  or- 
der six  months'  ago."  Of  course,  it  is  necessary 
in  a  case  of  this  kind  to  have  their  business  matters 
arranged  in  such  a  way  that  they  can  immediately 
place  their  hand  upon  either  the  original  order  or  a 
book  giving  the  particulars,  and  the  sheet  which  I 
will  analyze  herewith  answers  the  purpose  exactly, 
as  the  number  of  the  order  and  the  number  of  the 
box  may  be  kept  identical ;  hence  it  will  be  only  nec- 
essary to  ascertain  the  previous  number  of  our 
friend's  order  in  order  to  be  able  to  fill  it  without 
any  delay  and  be  absolutely  certain  that  we  are  giv- 
.'iig  him  exactly  what  he  desires.  The  sheet  used 
is  usually  quite  large  and  should  not  be  less  than 
inches  long,  by  16  to  18  inches  wide  with  the 
column  rulings  as  follows:  (See  Plate  No.  21). 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  113 

NAME  OF  BOX  OR  NUMBER  INSIDE  MEASUREMENTS 

—Lengths,  Width,  Depth. 
THICKNESS  OF  LUMBER— Ends,  Sides,  Top  and  Bottom. 

Dressed  or  Rough 

Tongued  and  Grooved  or  not 

Cleats 

Hoops 

Printed 

Label  End 

Made  Up  or  Y.  D. 

What  Kind  of  Lumber 

Amount  of  Feet  in  Box  Brd.  Meas. 

COST    OF    MANUFACTURING— Cutting,    Nailing,    Nails, 
Hauling,  Hoops. 

GENERAL    REMARKS. 
Price  per  Box. 

The  United  States  Government  is  using  loose  leaf 
books  in  many  of  its  departments  in  such  form  as 
is  prescribed  by  law.  The  Light  House  Department 
of  Mississippi  river  district  located  at  St.  Louis,  keep 
a  record  of  their  stations,  keepers,  and  lights  by  a 
system  of  loose  leaf  books  and  the  various  depart- 
ments in  other  localities  have  many  of  them,  adopted 
loose-leaf  methods. 


114  LOOSE   LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

CHAPTER  10. 

LOOSE-LEAF  BOOKS  IN  BANKS  AND  TRUST 
COMPANIES. 

The  final  test  in  regard  to  the  complete  success  of 
the  Loose  Leaf  System  has  been  made.  No  char- 
acter of  books  that  were  by  any  means  unsafe  to 
use  or  calculated  to  detract  from  the  security  and 
permanence  of  accounts  would  be  adopted  by  the 
banking  fraternity.  The  very  large  number  of  the 
most  prominent  banks  and  trust  companies  in  the 
United  States  that  have  adopted  and  are  using  suc- 
cessfully the  Loose  Leaf  System  in  the  conduct  of 
their  business  is  proof  positive  of  its  safety  and  effic- 
iency, and  also  furnishes  a  convincing  argument  for 
its  superiority  over  every  character  of  bound  books. 

Banks  deal  in  but  one  commodity,  "Money" ;  con- 
sequently entire  entries,  almost  without  exception, 
may  be  represented  by  figures,  hence  the  necessity 
for  descriptive  columns  in  the  blanks  of  books  in 
use  in  banks  is  very  limited. 

The  same  necessities  for  keeping  ledgers  current 
exist  with  banks  as  with  other  lines  of  business, 
except  that  in  case  of  such  financial  institutions  it 
is  even  of  more  importance  that  this  result  be  ac- 
complished. The  bound  books  which  have  been 
used  and  are  now  being  used  in  many  banks  for 
the  purpose  of  record  must  be  necessarily  very  large 
and  unwieldly,  and  some  of  the  improved  banking 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPINO.  115 

books  are  so  immense  that  when  opened  they  take 
up  the  entire  top  of  a  standing  desk;  and  as  the 
names  in  some  of  these  books  are  in  the  first  col- 
umn of  the  left-hand  page  and  the  account  extends 
laterally  through  both  pages  in  order  to  cover  an 
entire  year's  business  at  the  latter  portion  of  the 
year,  a  book-keeper  is  making  entries  several  feet 
away  from  the  name  of  the  customer,  sliding  across 
the  pages  like  an  intrepid  skater ;  thus  liable  to  make 
errors  on  account  of  the  extreme  difficulty  of  car- 
rying account  lines  such  a  long  distance.  Some  of 
these  books  require  also  the  transfer  of  every  bal- 
ance of  every  account  each  month,  necessitating  a 
vast  amount  of  extra  labor.  Contrast  with  this  the 
Loose  Leaf  Ledger  with  each  account  upon  its 
separate  leaf,  its  small  page,  its  self-indexing  fea- 
tures, its  light  weight  and  its  remarkable  ease  in 
reference ;  and  then  consider  also  *he  fact  that  all 
inactive  accounts  can  be  eliminated,  and  that  the 
balances  can  be  read  off  for  the  adding  machine  as 
rapidly  as  the  leaves  can  be  turned,  and  you  see  im- 
mediately the  reasons  why  the  banking  institutions 
in  the  country  are  adopting  the  loose  leaf  system 
in  their  business.  The  loose  leaf  books  in  banks 
consist  in  part  of : 

The  Minute  Book,  which  is  used  to  record 
the  minutes  of  the  meetings  of  stockholders  and 
directors. 

Stock  Ledger,  in  which  is  kept  a  record  of  all 
stock  issued  and  the  transfers  of  same. 


116 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


The  General  Ledger,  (ruled  in  the  ordinary 
manner),  in  which  the  general  accounts  of  the  bank 
are  aggregated. 

The  Individual  Ledgers,  in  which  are  kept  the 
accounts  of  depositors. 

These  ledgers  are  usually  divided  into  from  500 
to  600  current  accounts  each,  in  savings  banks  on 
the  numerical  plan,  and  in  general  banking  institu- 
tions on  the  alphabetical  plan.  Many  of  the  banks 
use  a  ruled  form,  double  double,  in  order  to  obtain 
more  space  on  the  leaf,  and  this  can  be  very  readily 
accomplished  on  account  of  the  absence  of  descrip- 
tive columns.  Some  use  the  account  number  and 
written  index  for  each  letter  (before  described,  in 
a  preceding  chapter),  and  others  proceed  on  the 
Lexicon  plan.  A  simple  ruling  for  a  small  bank 
consists  of  the  following  columns :  (See  Plate 
No.  22.)  Date,  Memo.,  Checks,  Deposits,  Balance. 


Larger  banks  use  the  following: 
Date,  Checks  in  Detail,  Total  Checks,  Deposits, 
Balance.    (See  plate  No.  23). 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


117 


PLATE.  N« 23 


It  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  have  two  or  three 
columns  for  the  checks  in  detail,  and  by  doing  this 
it  obviates  to  a  great  extent  the  "double  double" 
ruling,  as  it  gives  three  times  the  posting  capacity 
to  each  page.  One  large  trust  and  banking  com- 
pany in  New  Orleans  uses  a  form  with :  Date,  Checks 
in  Detail  (Two  Columns),  Total  Checks  (Dividing 
Line),  Date,  Memo.,  Credits,  Debit  Balance,  Credit 
Balance. 

Savings  banks  usually  use  about  the  same  form 
as  the  regular  banks,  with  the  exception  that  they 
require  less  space  for  withdrawals,  and  in  addition 
an  interest  column. 

Daily  Statement  Balance  Book.  This  book 
can  be  arranged  with  a  perforated  sheet,  which  can 
be  torn  out  at  the  end  of  the  month  and  sent  direct 
to  the  customer.  During  the  month  this  book  is  all 
that  is  required  for  a  daily  balance  book  and  is 
checked  against  the  ledger  account.  This  form 
is  as  follows :  (See  Plate  No.  24.) 


118 


LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 


PLATE  N0.2V- 


Vouchers   Returned 

IN  ACCOUNT  WITH 

FIRST  NATIONAL  BANK 

(Name  space)   

(Address  space)    

At  the  lower  left-hand  corner — 


PLEASE      EXAMINE 
AT  ONCE 


If  no  error  is  reported  with- 
in ten  days,  the  account 
will   be   considered   correct. 

Then  follows  the  columns  for  the  notation  of 
checks,  total  checks,  deposits  and  balance.  The  ad- 
vantages and  time-saving  features  of  this  plan  are 
mainly  from  the  fact  that  in  furnishing  this  state- 
ment to  a  customer  it  is  unnecassary  to  have  his 
book  written  up,  and  the  statement  can  be  furn- 
ished much  more  promptly  on  account  of  the  fact 
that  it  is  written  up  during  the  month,  and  all 
that  is  necessary  at  the  end  of  the  month  are  the 
changes  occurring  during  the  last  working  day. 
These  statements  are  kept  in  binders  arranged  in  the 
same  order  as  the  accounts  in  the  ledgers. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  119 

Draft  Register.  This  is  used  for  the  records  of 
the  drafts  as  issued. 

Cashier's      Check     Register.       This      register     is 
used  for  the  record  of  the  cashier's  checks  issued. 
CERTIFICATE  OF  DEPOSIT  REGISTER, 
COLLECTION  REGISTER  "IN.' 
COLLECTION   REGISTER   "OUT." 
REMITTANCE  REGISTER. 

Note  Tickler.  This  record  is  used  for  the  pur- 
pose of  keeping  track  of  the  time  that  notes  fall  due 
in  such  a  manner  that  they  will  be  promptly  at- 
tended to,  and  that  notification  may  always  be  for- 
warded a  sufficient  number  of  days  in  advance. 

Discount  Register.  Banks  usually  have  a  cer- 
tain line  of  customers  discounting  frequently,  and 
the  Discount  Register  might  perhaps  be  better 
termed  a  "Discount  Ledger,"  as  each  customer's 
discounts  are  kept  track  of  individually  in  regular 
ledger  form,  each  one  having  his  separate  account 
and  arranged  in  alphabetical  order  the  same  as  the 
Individual  ledgers.  The  form  may  be  simple  with 
an  ordinary  heading,  followed  by, — 

Date 

Description 

Payer 

Indorser 

Discounter 

When  Due 

Collateral  Loans. 

Or  another  form  which  is  much  in  use  is  name  and 
address,  with  line  of  credit;  the  following  being  the 
column  heads : 


120 


LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 


Number 
Date 
Time 
Rate 

LIABILITY 

Direct —      — Contingent 

Number 

Payments 

Balance 

Number 
PAYMENTS  OP  INTEREST 


PLATE  N9J.S. 


Another  very  excellent  form  gives  the  following 
column  headings :     (See  Plate  No.  26.) 
When  Discontinued 
When  Due 


AS  MAKER 

Amount- 


Balance 


Date  of  Balance. 


-When  Discounted 


NAMES  OF  MAKERS 
When  Due— 

AS  INDORSER 

Amount Balance 

Date Days Amount 

SECURITIES 


Date  of  Balance. 
.Paid - 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


121 


. 


You  will  note  in  this  form  the  names  of  the  Makers 
run  through  the  center  of  the  sheet,  and  the  paper 
"As  Maker"  is  all  entered  on  the  left  and  the  paper 
"As  Indorser"  is  all  entered  on  the  right. 

Daily  Balance  Book,  kept  in  the  old-style  with 
the  long  leaf  and  short  leaf.  A  great  saving  of  time 
is  made  by  using  the  Loose  Leaf  System,  on  account 
of  the  fact  that  the  short  leaves  may  be  used  con- 
tinuously, and  each  one  of  them  containing  space  for 
fourteen  days,  renders  the  necessity  of  writing  the 
depositors'  names  only  when  enough  changes  occur 
to  render  it  more  convenient. 


122  LOOSE   LEA7  BOOK-KEEPING. 

.  Interest  Books  for  banks  and  trust  companies 
that  pay  interest  on  daily  balance,  a  form  can  be 
easily  arranged  to  take  the  place  of  the  interest  slips 
in  common  use. 

Average  Balance  Book.  One  of  the  largest  banks 
in  New  York  City  uses  a  loose  leaf  book  for  average 
balances  for  their  customers.  This  leaf  they  have 
arranged  in  the  months  of  the  year  running  down 
the  page,  and  eight  years'  in  columns  running  across 
the  page,  with  the  yearly  average  at  the  bottom  in 
a  summary  column.  Besides  the  books  mentioned 
the  following  are  in  daily  use : 

Liability  Ledger 

General  Cash  Book 

Journal 

Teller's  Tickler 

Leaf  Registers 

Signature  Books  or  Cards. 

Dividend  Registers 

Check  Journal 

Perpetual  Trial  Balance 

Collection  Tickler  Book. 

Recapitulation  Book. 

All  of  these  forms  are  so  well  known  to  bankers 
and  book-keepers  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  go  into 
detail,  as  they  are  well  able  to  judge  of  their  require- 
ments. 

It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  the  use  of  all  these  bank 
records  on  the  loose  leaf  plan  carries  with  it  all  the 
advantages  that  the  use  of  the  loose  leaf  system  does 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  123 

in  mercantile  houses  as  already  enumerated.  The 
purchases  of  new  records,  instead  of  consisting  of 
additional  books  as  on  the  bound  book  plan  consists 
merely  of  the  leaves  as  wanted  and  there  is  no  ques- 
tion but  that  a  great  saving  of  storage  space  for  old 
records  is  effected. 

The  trust  companies  of  the  large  cities  of  the 
United  States  are,  most  of  them,  doing  a  general 
banking  business,  and  need  in  general  the  line  of 
books  laid  down  for  the  bankers'  use;  but  in  addi- 
tion to  this  line  of  books,  the  character  of  their  other 
business  requires  a  number  of  other  registering 
books.  The  loans  which  they  make  on  mortgages 
require  books  for  the  proper  description  of  the  prop- 
erty and  for  the  entering  of  the  loan,  with  principal, 
interest  and  payments.  Numberless  other  books  are 
necessary  in  the  loan  department.  Special  records  are 
also  kept  in  the  safe  deposit  department  and  in  the 
real  estate  department,  which  forms  quite  a  feature 
now-a-days  of  the  large  loan  and  trust  company.  It 
is  necessary,  of  course,  to  have  all  of  the  books  used 
by  the  real  estate  dealers.  No  system  in  the  world 
is  quite  so  good  as  the  loose  leaf  system  for  keeping 
a  record  of  property  for  sale  or  rent,  for  the  reason 
that  these  records  fluctuate  rapidly,  are  hardly  the 
same  from  day  to  day,  and  any  means  by  which  a 
current  active  record  can  be  kept  with  the  extraneous 
and  unnecessary  matter  thrown  out,  is  especially  ad- 
vantageous in  this  branch  of  the  business. 


124  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

COMBINATION   DAILY  BALANCE  BOOK  AND 
INTEREST  RECORD. 

In  1902  a  gentleman  in  St.  Louis,  of  one  of  the 
prominent  trust  companies,  secured  a  patent  upon 
a  balance  book  of  the  above  description.  In  the 
specifications  he  states : 

"My  invention  relates  to  balance-books,  and  more 
particularly  to  the  pages  thereof,  my  object  being 
to  provide  a  novel  page  for  books  of  this  character 
by  the  use  of  which  the  size  of  the  balance-book  is 
materially  reduced,  the  liability  of  error  in  crediting 
or  reading  balances  is  reduced  to  the  minimum  and 
the  balances  of  an  individual  depositor  are  so  pre- 
sented that  they  can  be  easily  added  for  the  purpose 
of  computing  interest  and  the  like  and  the  balances 
covering  a  considerable  period  of  time  are  visible 
simultaneously. 

"A  further  object  is  to  provide  a  leaf  of  such  char- 
acter that  but  a  single  depositor's  balances  are  en- 
tered thereon,  so  that  the  leaves  can  be  bound  as  a 
loose  leaf  book  and  only  those  leaves  devoted  to  open 
accounts  need  be  kept  in  the  binding. 

"Heretofore  it  has  been  customary  for  banks,  trust 
companies,  and  similar  institutions  which  allow  in- 
terest upon  daily  balances  to  employ  a  balance  book 
having  pages  provided  with  a  series  of  horizontal 
lines,  there  being  a  vertical  name-column  at  the  left 
of  the  page  and  a  horizontal  series  of  vertical  daily- 
balances  columns,  usually  fifteen  to  each  page.  The 
names  of,  say,  thirty  depositors  have  been  written 
one  below  the  other  in  the  name-column  and  the 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  125 

daily  balances  of  each  depositor  have  been  written 
in  a  horizontal  line  across  the  page.  This  has  made 
it  necessary  to  employ  a  relatively  large  leaf  to  fol- 
low a  particular  horiztontal  line  across  a  page  in 
order  to  enter  or  read  a  given  depositor's  balance 
for  any  day  (thus  rendering  it  easy  to  enter  or  read 
a  balance  in  the  wrong  line)  and  to  copy  each  deposit- 
or's daily  balances  at  the  end  of  each  month  or  other 
interest-crediting  period  in  a  vertical  row  in  .order  to 
add  the  said  balances  and  compute  the  interest. 

'My  invention  is  designed  particularly  as  an  im- 
provement upon  the  above-described  page,  which  has 
been  and  is  in  almost  universal  use." 

On  another  page  we  give  a  reproduction  of  this 
ruling,  (Plate  No.  28).  The  patentee  of  this  combi- 
nation ruling  claims  that,  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
labor  saved  to  banks  and  trust  companies  who  pay 
interest  on  daily  balances  and  the  reasons  given  are 
as  follows : 

Entirely  does  away  with  interest  slips. 

Only  necessary  to  write  each  name  once  a  year 
instead  of  twenty-four  times  (once  in  balance  book 
and  once  on  interest  slip  each  month). 

Impossible  to  credit  interest  to  wrong  account,  as 
but  one  name  appears  on  a  page. 

Unnecessary  to  read  names  when  comparing  bal- 
ances and  ledgers  as  they  correspond  leaf  for  leaf. 

Perfect  alphabetical  arrangement,  which  was  im- 
possible under  the  old  system. 

Daily  balances  for  a  period  of  six  months  visible 
at  once. 


126 


LOOSE    LEAF    BOOK-KEEPING. 


PLATE  NCL£8 


DAILY  BALANCES. 
NAME — 


O 


<L~t~ 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  127 

No  dead  names  in  balance  book. 

Eliminates  danger  of  teller  reading  balance  line 
too  high  or  too  low,  as  was  frequently  done  in  the 
old  system. 

Distributes  work  evenly  throughtout  the  month. 

No  possibility  of  paying  interest  on  a  large  bal- 
ance for  a  day  or  more,  too  long  as  was  occasionally 
done  with  interest  slips. 

Books  of  convenient  size  for  use  being,  12x12. 

Saves  about  one  man's  time  for  each  one  thousand 
accounts  handled. 

In  consideration  of  this  form,  there  seems  to  be 
no  question  whatever  as  to  its  desirability  for  the 
purposes  intended,  and  as  it  is  well  protected  by 
United  States  patents  covering  every  point,  it  natur- 
ally follows  that  permission  to  use  the  form  must 
be  obtained  by  negotiation  with  the  patentee,  as  any- 
one using  it  without  such  permission  would  be  liable 
to  prosecution  for  infringement  of  patent. 

From  the  description,  however,  it  will  be  seen 
that  such  a  system  can  be  handled  successfully  only 
on  the  loose  leaf  plan  as  by  no  other  plan  could  the 
ready  reference  self-indexing  feature  be  procured  as 
well  as  the  elimination  of  dead  matter. 

It  follows  naturally  that  with  such  a  record  the 
leaves  would  be  arranged  in  exactly  the  same  order 
in  which  the  accounts  would  appear  in  the  loose  leaf 
individual  ledger,  thus  effecting  a  wonderful  saving 
of  time  in  entering  the  items. 

The  same  general  book-keeping  conditions  exist  in 
the  banking  business,  as  in  other  lines,  except  that 


128  LOOSo^   LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 

the  merchandising  feature  is  eliminated  and  that  a 
daily  balance  must  be  maintained.  It  will  therefore 
be  unnecessary  in  this  chapter  to  go  into 'detail  in 
regard  to  the  proper  handling  of  special  books  as  this 
is  described  in  another  portion  of  the  work. 


CHAPTER  ii. 

LOOSE     LEAF     BOOKS     IN     INSURANCE, 
STOCK  BROKERAGE,  TELEPHONE,  TEL- 
EGRAPH AND  WATER  COMPANIES, 
GAS  AND  ELECTRIC  PLANTS,  ETC. 

There  are  two  classes  of  insurance  accounts :  One 
that  must  be  kept  by  the  parent  company  at  the 
parent  office,  and  the  other  the  agency  insurance 
account.  As  the  entire  business  of  insurance  is  now 
done  through  the  agency  medium,  it  naturally  neces- 
sitates general  agencies  of  different  companies  at 
principal  point  and  sub-agencies  at  points  of  lesser 
importance.  An  insurance  agency  usually  controls 
a  number  of  sub-agencies  from  whom  It  receives  re- 
ports applications  and  renewals,  and  naturally  this 
agency  must  in  turn  make  its  report  to  the  main  of- 
fice or  to  the  general  agancy  of  its  jurisdiction. 

As  there  are  many  features  connected  with  the  in- 
surance business  necessary  to  be  kept  in  accurate 
record,  for  a  large  number  of  years,  and  as  there 
are  many  books  necessary  for  comparative  state- 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  129 

ments,  averages,  etc.,  it  is  quite  true  that  the 
usual  books  used  in  the  insurance  office  are  much 
larger  than  those  used  in  an  ordinary  commercial 
business.  As  I  have  said,  wherever  the  size  of  the 
books  are  unusual,  trie  loose  leaf  system  fits  in  ad- 
mirably to  simplify  and  reduce  the  labor. 

Where  a  sheet  is  very  large,  it  naturally  follows 
that  in  procuring  a  bound  book,  the  largest  possi- 
ble for  use  is  the  one  usually  purchased;  and  the  con- 
sequence is  that  in  many  insurance  offices  the  clerks 
must  either  take  a  course  in  athletics,  or  the  propri- 
etor must  furnish  a  derrick  to  hoist  the  books  from 
the  vaults  to  the  standing  desk.  As  the  loose  leaf 
special  books  are  used  with  only  a  sufficient  number 
of  pages  to  last  one  or  two  months,  to  be  transferred 
when  completed  to  an  inactive  book,  it  will  be  seen 
that  no  matter  how  large  the  page  must  necessarily 
be,  the  handling  of  these  books  is  comparatively  easy 
and  the  results  obtained  on  this  account  alone  are 
much  superior  to  the  old  methods. 

Wherever  the  "Book  Typewriter"  has  been  intro- 
duced, the  advantages  of  this  system  for  statistical 
work  are  absolutely  unexcelled.  This  mechanical  ar- 
rangement traveling  easily  over  a  page  of  any  size, 
with  columnar  stops,  absolutely  furnishes  a  record 
impossible  to  duplicate  in  any  other  way.  There 
are  several  classes  of  insurance  accounting,  the  prin- 
cipal ones  being:  Life  Insurance,  Accident  Insur- 
ance, Benevolent  Association,  Fire  Insurance,  Cy- 
clone Insurance,  insurance  of  goods  in  transit  by  rail 
or  water,  Boiler  Inspection  and  Insurance,  Plate 


130  LOOSE   LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

Glass  Insurance,  and  a  number  of  other  classifica- 
tions. 

Life  Insurance  Accounting.  The  necessary  de- 
tail for  proper  accounting  of  this  class  of  business 
consists  in  keeping  accurate  records  of  policies  is- 
sued, premiums  received,  premiums  due  and  unpaid, 
re-newals,  cancellations,  commissions,  comparative 
statements,  expense  of  operation,  apportionment  to 
reserve  fund,  and  such  other  information  as  is  found 
necessary  for  the  complete  and  systematic  knowledge 
of  the  standing  of  the  company  and  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  the  law.  It  is  usual  for  insurance  com- 
panies to  have  several  cash  books  for  receipts  from 
agents,  foreign  receipts,  disbursements  and  a  home 
office  cash  book ;  and  this  fact  in  itself  shows  the 
great  advantage  that  would  be  attained  by  these  com- 
panies with  these  books  entirely  loose  leaf,  as  they 
could  be  apportioned  as  needed  and  assembled  in 
permanent  transfers.  A  general  cash  or  cash  journal 
might  be  kept  to  bring  together  all  totals  from  the 
different  cash  books,  provided  with  the  proper  num- 
ber to  save  posting  and  to  properly  assemble  the 
receipts  and  disbursements. 

The  difference  existing  between  life  and  fire  insur- 
ance accounting  is  principally  in  the  fact  that,  fire 
insurance  is  taken  from  year  to  year,  or  at  the  most 
a  limited  number  of  years — say  three  or  five — and  re- 
issues are  made  at  the  expiration  period.  This  being 
the  case,  in  this  class  of  accounting  there  are  frequent 
changes  on  account  of  the  fact  of  the  insured  chang- 
ing to  some  other  account  or  some  other  agency. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  131 

In  life  insurance — except  in  term  and  endowment 
risks — the  policy  entry  is  considered  perpetual  and 
carries  until  cancellation  or  death.  This  being  the 
case,  a  liability  form  giving  the  total  liabilities  for 
each  month  in  the  year,  and  each  day  in  the  month, 
for  each  agency  and  for  the  general  office,  is  a  very 
desirable  one. 

Policy  records  are  kept  by  each  agency,  giving 
the  data  of  the  application,  and  are  also  carefully 
kept  by  the  home  office.  (See  Plate  No.  29).  As 
these  records  must  be  explicit  the  forms  are  natural- 
ly of  good  size.  It  is  also  necessary  to  keep  a  record 
in  the  home  office  of  all  of  the  insurance  in  force  in 
each  state  wherein  the  company  does  business. 

The  desirability  of  making  all  sub-agenices'  reports 
on  the  loose  leaf  plan  is  readily  seen.  They  would 
be  filed  at  the  head  office  in  binders  alphabetically  or 
otherwise  and  all  the  reports  from  any  one  agency 
could  always  be  found  in  one  place.  For  compara- 
tive, statistical,  or  other  purposes  this  self-indexing, 
quick  reference  is  invaluable. 

Insurance  companies  have  so  many  offices  in  dif- 
ferent portions  of  the  country  which  they  furnish  and 
control,  that  it  is  a  very  good  plan  to  have  a  furni- 
ture record  for  each  of  these  offices.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  go  through  the  whole  line  of  books  used  by 
life  insurance  companies,  and  it  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  to  secure  economy  of  time,  perpetuity  of  account, 
and  absolute  current  feature  of  the  book  in  use ;  the 
loose  leaf  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  this'character  of 
work. 


132 


LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 


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There  is  another  class  of  life  insurance  which  has 
been  doing  and  is  doing  an  immense  business 
throughout  the  country,  namely,  "Industrial  Insur- 
ance." Industrial  insurance  differs  from  ordinary 
life  insurance ;  usually  in  this,  that  they  accept  risks 
for  smaller  amount,  and,  by  a  chain  of  subsidiary 
offices  are  enabed  to  take  this  insurance  on  the  plan 
of  a  weekly  payment.  It  will  be  readily  seen  that 
this  plan  adds  very  largely  to  the  book-keeping  nec- 
essary, and  consequently  a  greater  proportion  of 
benefit  can  be  derived  through  an  improvement  in  this 
line.  It  is  also  true  that  on  account  of  the  character 
of  the  risks  taken,  the  lapses  are  very  much  more 
frequent,  and  in  all  sewed  books  this  fact  would  bring 
within  the  covers  of  any  register  used  for  the  pur- 
pose a  great  deal  of  dead  matter  which  must  be  car- 
ried from  week  to  week  and  year  to  year.  The  loose 
leaf  system  allows  the  inactive  accounts  to  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  active  accounts,  and  if  for  no  other 
reason  whatever  is  best  adapted  to  this  class  of  busi- 
ness. The  forms  for  recording  payments  and  nec- 
essary information  concerning  these  risks  are  quite 
intricate,  but  by  the  aid  of  loose  leaf  system  can  be 
carried  without  transfer  for  several  years.  The 
forms  for  the  business  reported  by  or  received  from 
agents  are  usually  made  up  covering  the  twelve 
months  of  the  year,  with  the  commencing  number 
and  closing  number  with  the  December  3ist  balance. 
A  large  life  insurance  company  conducting  an  "In- 
dustrial" branch  has  a  form  which  will  be  of  interest 


134  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

to  those  interested  in  this  character  of  work.     The 
heading  consists  of: 

DISTRICT ASS'T    SUPT DATE 

OP    APPOINTMENT  

BOND  NO TERMS 

WEEKLY    GUARANTEE 

CONTRACT    NO 

|  CONTINGENT  SALARY 

And  the  column  headings  are  as  follows : 
DATE 

NO.  EMPLOYED 
SUPT'S ASS'T      SUPT'S AGENTS 

LIFE  ITEMS 

NEW    BUSINESS REVIVALS 

TRANSFERRED  TO 
POLICIES PREMIUMS.    POLICIES PREMIUMS 

LAPSE  ITEMS 

LAPSES TRANSFERS    FROM 

POLICIES....      PREMIUMS.     POLICIES....      PREMIUMS 

DEBIT  INCREASE 
POLICIES PREMIUMS 

IN  FORCE 

POLICIES PREMIUMS 

ACCUMULATED  YEARLY  DEBIT 

MEMORANDA. 

Benefit  associations  and  fraternal  societies  can 
keep  a  very  close  and  accurate  record  by  using  a 
form  large  enough  to  take  care  of  several  years'  pay- 
ments. If  the  installments  are  due,  say,  every  month, 
thirty-six  lines  would  take  care  of  three  years'  pay- 
ments. The  sheet  may  be  divided  into  sections,  each 
section  covering  a  year.  Under  each  year  the  names 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  135 

of  the  months  may  be  printed  in,  the  columns  for  the 
date  of  payment,  the  amount,  and  any  other  neces- 
sary data.  A  sheet  of  this  kind  could  accommodate 
any  number  of  years.  These  sheets  of  course  would 
be  arranged  alphabetically  and  indexed  the  same  as 
a  ledger.  Sometimes,  however,  in  this  class  of  book- 
keeping, where  the  number  of  payments  is  known 
absolutely  and  therefore  the  amount  of  space  neces- 
sary may  be  apportioned  at  the  start,  instead  of  car- 
rying one  account  to  a  leaf,  a  number  of  accounts  may 
be  entered  on  the  same  leaf  and  numbered  consecu- 
tively using  the  same  number  as  the  benefit  certificate 
In  such  a  case  an  outside  alphabetical  card  index  for 
the  names  is  absolutely  necessary  for  reference. 

Fire  Insurance  Agencies  require  the  ordinary 
books  of  any  business,  cash  book,  ledger  ;and  journal 
but  in  addition  to  these  books,  they  also  require  a 
number  of  supplemental  books — some  of  them  of 
great  importance.  A  policy  register  must  be  kept 
at  each  sub-agency  for  a  fire  insurance  company,  in 
which  the  full  data  of  each  risk  is  entered  and  a  tis- 
sue carbon  of  any  special  contract  must  be  attached 
thereto.  As  it  is  frequently  the  case  that  these  agen- 
cies have  one  application  for  insurance  by  a  large 
firm  which  will  be  divided  up  among  a  number  of 
companies,  it  requires  a  large  amount  of  labor  to 
keep  these  records  for  all  of  the  companies  men- 
tioned, and  the  loose  leaf  is  found  to  be  very  desirable 
in  this  regard,  as  the  business  of  each  company  can 
be  kept  together,  facilitating  reports  and  all  statis- 
tics information  either  desired  by  the  company  or 


136  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

required  by  the  state.  Some  of  the  agencies  have  a 
form  giving  the  dwellings  under  "Fire  Protection" 
and  "Outside  of  Fire  Protection"  with  the  columns 

running : 

RISKS  WRITTEN 
AMOUNT  WRITTEN 
PREMIUM  WRITTEN 
LOSS  PAID 

RISKS. 

Amount.  . .  .  Balance.  . . .  Profit.  . .  .  Loss. 
An  insurance  expiration  book  for  each  month  is  a 
necessity,  as  it  is  through  these  expirations  that  the 
continuance  is  secured,  and  the  agents  keep  a  very 
close  watch  and  endeavor  to  retain  as  much  business 
as  possible  by  having  their  sub-agents  call  upon  the 
insured  before  the  expiration  of  the  term.  Such  form 
usually  runs :  (See  Plate  No.  30). 

Policy  No.,  Company,  Agent,  Assured,  Location, 
Building,  Barn,  Total,  Amount,  Rate,  Premium, 
Term,  Date,  Remarks. 

Such  a  record  made  on  the  loose  leaf  plan  may 
be  arranged  by  days,  weeks,  or  months,  facilitating 
greatly  the  following  up  of  these  expirations,  as  the 
sheets  may  be  arranged  to  follow  each  other  chrono- 
logically, and  extra  sheets  put  in  wherever  needed. 
Every  line  of  each  sheet  may  be  used  as  new  entries 
of  a  different  date  may  be  made  on  them  if  they  are 
not  filled  up  and  their  position  in  the  binder  changed 
as  may  be  necessary. 

The  variety  of  forms  used  by  fire  insurance  com- 
panies and  all  other  companies  are  so  numerous  that 
it  would  be  impossible  to  give  an  adequate  idea  of 


LOOSE  LEA.F  BOOK-KEEPING.  137 

them  in  an  article  of  this  character,  but  as  each  com- 
pany has  its  own  ideas  of  the  necessary  books  to  be 
kept  and  the  necessary  rulings  of  such  books;  it 
naturally  follows  that  in  making  a  change  to  the 
loose  leaf  method  of  book-keeping,  it  would  be  only 
necessary,  to  make  such  changes  as  will  entail  less 
labor  and  produce  equally  good  results  without  nec- 
essarily changing  their  forms  or  system.  The  hand- 
ling of  loose  leaf  books  in  the  insurance  business  is 
very  similar  to  that  described  in  other  lines,  with 
the  exception  that  outside  of  its  regular  accounting 
books,  the  records  may  be  kept  in  binders  marked 
"Current"  and  "Transferred,"  or  the  current  mat- 
ter may  be  handled  in  spring  back  holders  and  when 
the  records  are  completed  transferred  to  the  regular 
binder  for  permanence  and  safe-keping.  If  the  rec- 
ord requires  indexing,  either  alphabetical  or  numer- 
ical, the  former  method  would  be  the  better;  or  if 
there  was  a  probability  of  more  than  fifty  leaves  be- 
ing in  current  use  at  one  time,  a  binder  would  be  bet- 
ter adapted  to  the  purpose  than  the  spring  back 
holder.  The  sectional  post  binder  is  so  made  that 
it  will  hold  any  number  of  leaves  desired,  from  one 
to  1,000,  while  the  spring  back  holder  cannot  be 
handled  successfully  with  a  large  number  of  leaves. 

One  of  the  largest  boiler  inspection  and  insurance 
companies  of  the  United  States  uses  the  loose  leaf 
very  satisfactorily  for  the  filing  of  inspection  reports, 
alphabetically,  by  risk. 

Stock  Brokers  are  employed  to  buy  and  sell 
bonds  and  other  securities.  A  record  must  there- 


138 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


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LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  139 

fore  be  kept  of  the  frequent  transfer  of  stock  pur- 
chased by  the  client,  and  also  of  the  transiictior.  of  re- 
selling the  same  when  there  is  a  margin  of  profit 
sufficient  to  satisfy,  or  when  it  becomes  necessary 
for  the  purpose  of  preventing  further  loss.  These 
records  are  very  important  and  are  necessarily  some- 
what numerous  in  order  to  keep  a  complete  and  sys- 
tematic account  of  the  transactions.  These  brokers 
use  a  cash  book  ruled  suitably  for  the  purpose,  in- 
dividual ledgers  for  their  clients,  private  ledgers  for 
the  general  summaries  and  private  transactions,  bond 
and  stock  ledgers,  loan  registers — where  this  is  done 
in  any  part  of  the  business  ,and  such  other  special 
books  as  may  be  necessary  to  complete  the  chain. 
The  Loose  Leaf  System  is  now  in  use  in  the  offices 
of  many  of  the  largest  stock  brokers  in  the  United 
States,  and  found  to  be  unusually  well  adapted  to 
their  purpose. 

Telephone,  Telegraph  and  Electric  Companies 
have  investigated  all  the  merits  of  the  loose  leaf 
and  the  result  is  that,  many  of  the  largest  companies 
of  the  principal  cities  of  the  United  States  have 
adopted  this  system  of  book-keeping  in  preference 
to  all  others.  In  the  telephone  business,  especially, 
it  is  found  remarkably  available,  from  the  fact  that 
as  a  rule  telephone  renters  hold  over  for  a  number 
of  years,  and  the  necessity  for  a  transfer  of  many 
thousand  names  each  year  can  be  obviated  by  arrang- 
ing a  sheet  in  such  a  manner  that  it  will  last  for  from 
three  to  six  years  for  each  customer;  this  particular- 
ly refers  to  the  rental  register.  (See  Plate  No.  34). 


140 


LOOSE   LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  141 

It  is  not  only  desirable  from  this  point  of  view,  but 
also  from  the  fact  that  in  case  a  telephone  is  given 
up  and  transferred  to  another  customer,  the  only 
necessary  entry  on  the  rental  register  is  the  entry 
of  transfer,  and  the  changing  of  the  loose  leaf  from 
its  location  to  the  new  one  required  by  the -new 
renter  and  by  the  indexing  plan  determined  upon. 
The  various  extra  tolls  for  suburban  or  long  dis- 
tance can  be  kept  very  readily  through  these  same 
accounts,  and  with  special  toll  book  and  long  dis- 
tance records  form  a  complete  chain  showing  the 
receipts  from  various  sources.  Such  books  as  are 
necessary  in  the  matter  of  disbursements,  wages, 
equipment,  repairs,  etc.,  etc.,  to  keep  these  records 
are  easily  arranged,  and  will  be  found  very  efficacious. 
Telephone  or  telegraph  companies  and  gas  and  elec- 
tric light  companies  are  to  a  certain  extent  similar, 
from  the  fact  that  they  have  a  large  investment  and 
are  dealing  with  the  public  in  the  capacity  of  public 
servants.  All  of  these  various  companies  require 
most  accurate  records  of  their  investment  and  of 
any  addition  thereto  or  deduction  therefrom.  The 
stock  ledger  and  dividend  records  are  an  absolute 
necessity  on  account  of  the  frequent  transfers  of 
stock.  Service  reports  of  various  characters  must 
be  kept,  accurate  records  of  labor  expended  in 
keeping  their  plant  in  condition,  separated  from  that 
necessary  for  the  general  conduct  of  their  business ; 
comparative  records  of  service  from  various  sources, 
and  disbursements  to  various  sources,  and  the  gen- 
eral accounting  books  necessary  to  summarize  the 


142 


LOJSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 


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LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  143 

work  from  the  books  of  detail  must  be  kept  in  ad- 
dition to  the  customer's  accounts.  The  telegraph 
companies  in  their  dealing  with  the  public  have  not 
as  much  need  for  voluminous  customers'  ledgers  as 
the  telephone,  gas  or  electric  light  or  water  com- 
panies; these  four  latter  lines  now-a-days  deal  with 
a  very  large  number  of  private  citizens  and  invari- 
ably extend  to  them  a  certain  amount  of  credit,  nec- 
essitating careful  and  complete  records  at  all  times, 
kept  in  such  a  manner  as  will  be  most  readily  avail- 
able. Gas,  electric  and  water  companies  require 
also  a  large  number  of  meter  registers,  arranged  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  charges  can  be  quickly  and 
properly  made  to  the  various  users.  The  customers'" 
ledgers  (See  Plates  Nos.  31  and  33)  are  made  to 
have  each  sheet  last  several  years. 

On  account  of  various  facts  before  stated  in  re- 
gard to  the  economy  of  time  secured  by  the  intro- 
duction of  the  loose  leaf  books,  it  is  aboslutely  sure 
that  the  larger  the  number  of  current  customers' 
accounts  the  greater  the  proportionate  benefit  at- 
tained by  its  introduction.  Economy  of  space,  and 
of  time,  the  relief  from  transferring;  the  ready  ref- 
erence, and  the  quickness  of  posting  and  statement 
or  bill-making,  mean  a  lessening  of  the  number  of 
clerical  employes,  and  basing  the  salary  of  a  clerk 
or  assistant  as  low  as  $50  per  month,  shows  a  net 
saving  to  the  firm  or  corporation  of  $600  per  annum 
for  each  person  th'us  dispensed  with;  and  if  there 
were  no  other  advantages  connected  with  the  intro- 
duction of  *he  Loose  Leaf  System  in  extensive  lines 


144  LOOSE   LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 

of  business,  this  should  be  enough  without  any  ques- 
tion to  decide  the  "would-be"  user  in  its  favor. 

Electric  Lighting  Record  of  Sales  Plate  32  and 
Telephone  Ledger  Plate  42,  will  be  found  in  Chap- 
ter 15. 

CHAPTER  12. 

LOOSE  LEAP  BOOKS  IN  THE  INSTALLMENT 
BUSINESS. 

The  Installment  business  in  the  United  States 
has  become  one  of  remarkable  prominence ;  it  has 
developed  from  a  small  beginning  into  one  of  the 
most  important  industries.  We  now  find  Install- 
ment houses  for  Furniture,  Dry  Goods,  Ladies* 
Clothing,  Gentlemen's  Clothing,  Watches,  Pianos, 
Organs,  and  various  other  needs. 

One  peculiar  feature  of  the  Installment  business 
it  that,  on  account  of  its  nature,  the  books  used, 
require  from  10  to  20  credit  entries  against  one  debit 
entry.  This  is  exactly  opposite  from  the  ordinary 
line  of  book-keeping,  as  under  ordinary  conditions 
the  debit  entries  far  outnumber  the  credit  entries. 
It  is  usual  with  Installment  houses  in  selling  a 
bill  of  goods,  to  divide  the  payments  in  such  a 
manner  as  will  cover  the  amount  purchased  within 
one  year  from  date  of  purchase ;  but  it  is  frequently 
the  case  that  they  are  required  to  extend  this  time 
limit  so  that  it  may  cover  two  years  of  twenty-four 
monthly  entries,  or  one  hundred  and  four  weekly 
entries  on  the  credit  side  of  the  account  against  a 
single  debit  item. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  145 

On  account  of  the  easy  terms  upon  which  goods 
are  sold  by  this  plan,  and  the  fact  that  poor  people 
or  people  of  the  middle  class  may  purchase  more 
than  they  otherwise  would  on  account  of  the  ad- 
vantages obtained  by  monthly  or  weekly  payments, 
the  number  of  customers  carried  by  Installment 
houses  is  very  much  greater  and  the  length 
of  -  time  which  they  are  carried  is  very  much 
longer  than  in  the  usual  mercantile  business;  hence 
it  follows  that  the  number  of  current  accounts,  or 
unsettled  accounts,  for  a  business  of  this  character, 
vastly  outnumbers  the  number  of  current  accounts 
carried  by  regular  merchants. 

As  has  been  explained  in  other  portions  of  this 
work,  the  loose  leaf  system  when  properly  installed, 
renders  the  work  of  the  book-keeper  very  much  eas- 
ier to  accomplish.  It  cuts  out  a  considerable  amount 
of  unnecessary  labor,  and  saves  at  least  a  third  of 
his  time.  This  condition  prevailing  in  an  ordinary 
business,  would  naturally  attach  greater  importance 
to  a  business  carrying  a  much  larger  number  of  ac- 
counts, as  the  Installment  business  does,  and  the 
saving  of  time  would  be  proportionately  greater. 

It  is  usual  in  the  Installment  business — as  it  has 
been  operated  with  the  old-style  sewed  books — to 
give  each  customer  a  number,  or  numbered  account, 
and  have  a  ledger  cut  up  into  a  great  number  of 
small  accounts.  It  is  frequently  found  by  this 
arrangement,  the  space  allowed  is  insufficient  for 
the  entries  necessary;  consequently,  in  many  cases, 
the  entries  have  to  be  credited  in  two  to  the  line 


146  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

or  the  amount  must  be  transferred  to  another  por- 
tion of  the  book,  losing  its  identity  and  its  consecu- 
tiveness.  As  each  of  these  numbered  accounts  only 
contain  one  debit  entry,  in  case  the  parties  buy 
other  bills  of  goods  (which  is  not  unlikely,  and  which 
frequently  occurs)  they  are  given  separate  accounts 
and  new  numbers ;  so  that  should  a  customer  buy 
during  the  year  four  bills,  this  customer  would  have 
in  the  Installment  ledgers  four  separate  accounts, 
which  it  would  be  necessary  for  the  book- 
keeper to  keep  track  of,  as  if  it  were  four  different 
customers. 

Should  a  customer  pay  his  account  in  full  and 
afterwards  repurchase,  it  is  necessary  also  to  open 
a  new  account.  The  consequence  is  that  hundreds 
and  perhaps  thousands  of  accounts  are  opened  un- 
necessarily by  the  present  system. 

Loose  leaf  accounting  books  are  therefore  the 
"Sine-qua-non"  for  the  Installment  business.  The 
fact  that  the  customer's  account ;  be  it  large  or  small ; 
be  it  one  debit  item  or  twenty ;  be  it  twelve  credit 
items  or  two  hundred,  is  kept  in  one  place  at  all 
times,  whether  current  or  closed,  makes  this  system 
absolutely  invaluable  for  the  installment  business. 

Not  only  that,  but  the  peculiarities  of  the  busi- 
ness, before  mentioned,  which  requires  numerous 
credit  entries  against  one  debit  entry,  can  be  provided 
for  by  having  two  or  three  credit  columns  on  the 
same  ledger  page  against  one  debit  column,  giving 
the  necessary  space  for  the  additional  credit  entries 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  147 

and  allowing  upon  one  page  the  posting  work  of 
three  pages. 

As  this  system  is  flexible  to  the  highest  degree, 
there  is  absolutely  no  necessity  for  ever  opening  a 
new  account  with  a  customer  who  buys  a  second 
or  third  time,  as  the  entries  may  be  all  followed 
consecutively,  whether  the  account  is  closed  or  open ; 
and,  if  necessary,  where  double  payment  is  running 
on  a  double  purchase  at  the  same  time,  the  credit 
on  each  purchase  may  be  posted  in  a  separate  credit 
column. 

With  this  system  there  is  absolutely  no  necessity 
for  a  transfer  of  account,  as  the  number  of  leaves 
which  may  be  added  from  time  to  time,  as  required, 
renders  it  unnecessary. 

The  indexing  feature  under  this  system  may  be 
arranged  according  to  the  need  of  the  proprietors 
of  the  business.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  num- 
erical system  could  not  be  profitably  employed  in 
this  regard — as  it  is  in  sewed  books — with  the  ex- 
ception that  with  loose  leaf  books  after  a  number 
was  given  to  an  individual,  that  number  would  con- 
stantly remain  for  his  identification.  In  most  cases, 
Installment  houses  use  a  little  book,  similar  to  a 
bank  book,  wherein  payments  are  credited  and  the 
number  of  the  account  is  on  the  outside  of  this 
book,  guiding  the  cashier  in  making  the  proper 
entry,  both  by  number  and  name,  and  also  the  book- 
keeper in  making  his  posting.  Of  course,  in  case 
the  numerical  plan  is  used  as  a  guiding  feature  in 
indexing,  it  would  be  necessary  to  keep  a  separate 


148  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

card  or  alphabetical  index  of  some  character  to 
indicate  the  number  of  the  account  of  any  debtor, 
as  there  might  frequent  occasions  arise  where  an 
amount  would  be  paid  by  a  debtor  without  reference 
to  the  number  of  his  account,  being  either  remitted 
by  mail  or  paid  in  person,  and  it  would  be  necessary 
in  case,  the  numerical  plan  was  used  in  this  manner, 
to  have  some  ready  reference  to  ascertain  the  cus- 
tomer's number. 

In  case  the  alphabetical  arrangement  was  used 
under  the  Lexicon  plan,  as  explained  in  the  chapter 
on  indexing,  any  subsidiary  index  would  be  unneces- 
sary ;  and  still,  if  it  were  so  desired,  the  number 
could  be  used  in  connection  therewith,  and  it  would 
be  advisable  to  keep  a  numerical  card  index  so  that 
if  occasion  arose  where  the  number  of  a  customer's 
account  was  known  and  not  the  customer,  it  would 
be  as  readily  turned  to  as  by  the  other  system.  There 
are  advantages  to  be  claimed  for  each  of  the  two 
systems,  and  it  would  depend  upon  the  individual 
preferences  of  the  proprietors  as  to  which  they 
adopted. 

Loose  leaf  Cash  Books  for  the  Installment  busi- 
ness should  be  arranged  on  the  debit  side,  in  a  col- 
umnar form,  and  cover  each  ledger,  and  a  full  des- 
cription of  the  advantages  of  this  cash  book  will 
be  found  in  chapter  7. 

The  ledgers  mentioned  above  are  strictly  Install- 
ment ledgers,  and  any  Installment  .house  should 
carry  in  addition  to  this  a  General  Ledger,  and  if 
desired,  a  Purchase  Ledger,  or  if  the  Purchase  Rec- 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  149 

ord  was  used  (as  described  in  chapter  9),  the  Pur- 
chase Ledger  could  be  dispensed  with  entirely;  this 
is  also,  a  matter  of  preference. 

Other   loose   leaf  books   which  are   used   to  great 
advantage  in  Installment  houses  are : 
Bills  Receivable  Book. 
Bills  Payable  Book. 
Inventory   Record. 
Stock  Ledger. 
Collection  Tickler. 

and  where  the  business  was  sufficiently  extended, 
Time  Books,  Pay-Rolls  and  Cost  Books. 

The  perpetual  trial  balance  would  also  be  desirable, 
and  in  some  cases,  Recapitulation  books. 

As  there  are  frequent  cases  in  the  Installment 
business  where  the  payments  are  interrupted — some- 
times with  good  cause,  and  sometimes  with  inten- 
tion to  delay  or  defraud — it  produces  in  this  busi- 
ness, especially,  a  large  number  of  accounts  which 
might  better  be  out  of  the  regular  current  ledger 
and  seggregated.  This  is  very  readily  accomplished 
by  the  loose  leaf  system.  A  Suspense  Binder  can 
be  provided;  (i.  e.  a  regular  binder  of  the  proper 
size),  to  which  the  leaves  of  the  accounts  thus  dis- 
posed of  may  be  transferred.  This  book  may  form, 
if  desired,  a  part  of  the  regular  monthly  balance; 
or,  another  way  which  is  still  more  satisfactory,  is 
to  charge  out  to  suspense  account  all  balances  on 
leaves  thus  taken  from  the  current  ledgers,  and 
whenever  any  payments  were  made  upon  these  ac- 
counts held  in  the  suspense  ledger,  suspense  ledger 


150  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

should  receive  the  credit  in  the  cash  book,  with  the 
name  of  the  account  subsidiary  for  direct  posting 
in  the  suspense  ledger.  By  this  manner  of  keep- 
ing these  accounts,  the  exact  amount  of  the  balance 
of  the  suspense  account  is  always  immediately  de- 
terminable  from  the  suspense  account  in  the  Gen- 
eral Ledger,  and  the  addition  of  the  balances  at 
any  time  in  the  suspense  ledger  must  balance  the 
account  in  the  General  Ledger.  The  great  advan- 
tage of  this  collating  of  doubtful  accounts,  is  that 
they  are  very  easy  of  access  by  the  credit  man; 
he  does  not  require  a  list,  which  may  or  may  not 
be  complete ;  he  is  not  obliged  to  look  through  one- 
half  dozen  ledgers  in  order  to  ascertain  the  slow 
payments ;  but  he  has  every  account  of  this  charac- 
ter ready  at  all  times,  and  his  daily  examinations  of 
this  ledger  will  keep  him  in  such  constant  touch 
with  the  conditions  that,  in  the  long  run,  it  will 
make  a  difference  in  collections  to  the  firm  of  a  very 
considerable  amount.  Like  other  ledgers,  the 

suspense  ledger  should  have  its  complement  in 
a  transfer,  to  which  are  transferred  closed  accounts 
— the  same  as  any  other  ledger — thus  keeping  the 
work  current.  It  is  not  objectionable,  when  a  sus- 
pense account  is  paid  up  in  full,  to  transfer  the  sheet 
to  the  regular  closed  account  transfer  binder.  It 
will  then  retain  its  relative  position,  and  in  this  way 
all  closed  accounts  will  be  found  in  one  place. 

It  is  also  possible  to  keep  the  accounts  upon  the 
numerical  plan,  having  several  accounts  to  the  page. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  151 

The  advantage  of  this  system  in  the  loose  leaf  would 
be  that  such  a  record  could  be  kept  down  in  size  by 
eliminating  the  closed  accounts,  that  is  where,  every 
account  upon  the  leaf  was  closed.  Individual  leaves 
are  much  to  be  preferred. 

Taken  all  in  all,  from  the  deductions  and  explana- 
tions given,  it  seems  that  there  is  scarcely  any  bus- 
iness which  is  more  likely  to  be  benefitted  by  the  use 
of  the  loose  leaf  system  than  the  Installment  houses, 
and  the  great  saving,  in  time  and  labor  alone,  should 
be  sutticient  inducement  for  every  Installment  house- 
in  the  country  to  introduce  the  loose  leaf  system :  as 
labor  is  the  most  expensive  article  purchased,  and 
the  wage  list  and  salary  list  of  large  houses  cut  no 
enormous  slice  from  their  gross  profits. 


CHAPTER  13. 

LOOSE  LEAF  BOOKS  IN  WHOLESALE 
HOUSES. 

Probably  the  largest  number  of  loose  leaf  books 
now  in  use  in  America  are  in  Wholesale  houses. 
They  have  been  the  first  to  recognize  and  adopt  the 
loose-leaf  system,  and  have  found  it  of  such  an  ad- 
vantage to  them  in  handling  their  business,  such 
a  saving  in  time  and  such  a  convenience  in  gen- 
eral, that  the  use  has  spread  very  rapidly  among 
the  wholesale  houses  in  different  cities,  not  only 
of  one  commodity,  but  of  all. 


152  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

We  sometimes  meet  individuals  who  say :  "Loose 
leaf  books  may  operate  very  well  in  such  and  such 
a  line,  but  they  would  certainly  fail  to  give  satisfac- 
tion in  my  line."  This,  of  course,  is  an  assertion 
which  it  is  not  at  all  difficult  to  disprove.  There  are 
no  vast  differences  in  the  book-keeping  departments 
of  wholesale  houses.  It  makes  very  little  difference 
to  the  book-keeper  whether  the  final  figures  of  a 
bill  represent  Sugar,  Boots  and  Shoes,  Drugs,  Hard- 
ware, Millinery  or  any  other  commodity;  in  fact, 
he  seldom  knows,  except  that  he  sees  evidences 
of  the  character  of  the  business  in  his  transit  from  the 
office  through  the  store.  There  is  absolutely  no 
wholesale  business  of  any  character  wherein  the 
loose  leaf  books  are  not  available,  and  it  might  be 
said  here;  there  is  no  business  of  any  character, 
which  requires  book-keeping,  that  loose  leaf  books 
are  not  both  valuable  and  desirable. 

The  wholesale  house  pointed  the  way  for  Loose 
Leaf  Accounting  Books  by  the  use  of  the  original 
order  as  a  salesbook,  bound  together  on  an  ordinary 
Post  Binder.  It  was  found  to  be  absloutely  un- 
necessary and  a  great  waste  of  time  to  copy  bills 
in  a  sales  book,  and  the  first  innovation  made  in 
order  to  lessen  this  work  was  to  take  an  impression 
of  the  bill  in  a  tissue  copy  book  and  post  from  the 
tissue.  It  was  soon  found  to  be  unnecessary  even 
to  do  this,  as  the  order  blanks  are  easily  constructed 
so  that  the  prices  may  be  extended  into  the  proper 
columns,  the  checking  for  shipment  and  for  exten- 
sions made,  and  the  charge  ready  for  posting  with- 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  153 

out  a  single  item  being  transferred  to  another  sheet. 
Using  the  loose  leaf  system,  these  loose  charge 
sheets  can  be  arranged  in  a  manner  conforming  to 
the  Sales  Ledger  arrangement,  facilitating  easy 
posting;  the  bill  is  made  direct  from  these  charge 
sheets,  and  after  arrangement,  the  charge  sheets  are 
numbered  consecutively,  beginning  usually  with  the 
beginning  of  the  fiscal  year.  From  the  loose  leaf 
order  blank,  it  was  but  a  step  to  the  bill  and  charge 
system  for  city  sales ;  this  system  is  fully  described 
in  Chapter  20.  There  are  many  houses  who  yet 
cling  to  the  old  idea  of  booking  their  sales,  but  it  is 
absolutely  unnecessary.  A  very  good  plan  is  to 
use  a  loose  leaf  Sales  Record,  merely  giving  the 
date,  number  of  the  bill  and  the  total  upon  loose 
sheets  for  country  salesmen  separately,  city  sales- 
men separately,  mail  orders,  office  sales  and  cash 
sales  if  desired.  A  recapitulation  of  the  result  of 
these  daily  postings  of  the  separate  salesmen  and 
other  accounts  will  give  the  entire  sales  for  the 
day,  and  balance  the  recapitulation  of  the  loose  sheet 
records  as  entered  for  each  ledger  or  series  of  led- 
gers. If  the  book-keeper  uses  a  slip  system  or  the 
duplicate  entry  plan,  the  result  of  his  work  will  bal- 
ance the  credit  to  sales  accounts  as  represented  by 
the  recapitulation  of  the  loose  sheets  in  the  order 
binders. 

In  the  wholesale  business,  the  city  department 
would  require  the  order  blank  system  referred  to, 
the  bill  and  charge  system  and  credit  memorandum 
plan — similar  to  the  bill  and  charge,  which  dupli- 


154  LOOSE    LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

cates  the  credit  and  is  filed  in  a  similar 
manner  for  direct  posting,  duplicate  requisi- 
tion blanks  -  -  which  are  used  by  their 
customers — and  receiving  blank — which  is  used  in 
connection  with  the  requisition  system,  a  stock 
record  book,  an  inventory  book,  city  delivery  re- 
ceipts, loose  leaf  price  books,  recapitulation  books, 
loose  leaf  catalogues;  and  in  this  connection  I  wish 
to  say,  the  loose  leaf  catalogue  is  a  very  desirable 
thing  for  the  wholesale  firm,  for  the  reason  that  any 
sheet  in  the  catalogue  may  be  changed  without  dis- 
turbing the  balance  of  the  work,  and  the  catalogues 
in  some  lines  of  business  are  so  very  expensive  that 
if  they  become  obsolete  on  account  of  change  of 
prices,  it  is  a  very  costly  matter  to  furnish  each  sales- 
man with  new  ones.  This  is  not  the  only  considera- 
tion. In  the  old-style  printed  catalogues  where 
prices  were  raised  or  fluctuations  occur,  they  fre- 
quently failed  to  be  noted  by  the  salesman,  and  goods 
sold  from  old  catalogue,  at  old  prices,  involving  a 
considerable  loss  to  the  firm.  It  will  be  readily  seen 
that  by  the  loose  leaf  plan,  the  salesman  would  be 
furnished  with  the  leaf  from  the  house,  giving  the 
new  figures  and  changes  in  prices,  he  would  be 
instructed  to  insert  that  leaf  at  its  proper  place  in 
his  catalogue  and  "return  the  old  leaf  to  the  house ;" 
this,  of  course,  would  prevent  any  errors  in  pricing 
goods. 

Besides   the   books   mentioned   above,   of   course, 
the   requisite     number   of  city     customers'  ledgers, 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  155 

monthly   statement   system   and   perpetual   trial  bal- 
ance would  be  necessary. 

In   the    Buyer's   department   of   wholesale   houses 

they  use : 

Loose  Leaf  Stock  Books. 

Loose   Leaf  Quotation   Records. 

Requisition   System  in  duplicate. 

Loose    Leaf    Price    Books — as    mentioned    above — 

and  also  the  inventory  system. 

All  the  books  used  in  the  Buyer's  department  as 
above  noted,  can  be  handled  with  binders  and 
holders,  the  holders  being  used  to  carry  as  many 
sheets  as  are  necessary  for  the  current  work  of  the 
month  and  then  they  are  transferred  to  the  binder. 
In  some  cases,  especially  in  the  loose  leaf  stock 
book  where  articles  are  given  an  account  similar  to 
individual  accounts  in  sales  ledger,  and  the  debit 
and  credit  for  goods  received  and  delivered  is 
maintained,  it  is  necessary  to  have  the  alphabetical 
indexing  arrangements  and  to  use  one  binder  for 
current  purposes,  and  another  similarly  indexed 
for  transfer  purposes.  Stock  and  Warehouse  rec- 
ords kept  in  this  manner  are  easily  available  and 
handled  without  difficulty  and  with  comparatively 
little  labor.  The  advantage  of  Loose  Leaf  Quota- 
tion Records,  Price  Books  and  Inventory  system 
will  be  seen  very  readily  from  their  application  in 
other  ways. 

The  sales  department  would  find  the  loose  leaf 
catalogue  for  salesmen  mentioned  above  absolutely 
indispensable.  The  price  book  for  salesmen, 


156  LOOSE    LEAP    BOOK-KEEPING. 

order  registers,  salesmen's  expense  record  and 
the  general  sales  record  can  all  be  handled  in  the 
loose  leaf  with  ease,  giving  the  greatest  efficiency 
in  this  service.  The  character  of  information  desired 
by  the  sales  department,  the  necessity  for  constant 
and  careful  supervision  of  the  work  of  salesmen  is 
such  that,  the  interchangeable  leaf  system  appeals 
directly  to  them  as  something  which  will  vastly  im- 
prove their  methods. 

It  renders  the  book  to  be  handled  much  lighter, 
and  allows  any  size  or  shape  page  which  may  be 
necessary  to  convey  exactly  the  information  desired. 
It  keeps  a  perfect  record  of  all  matter  which  has 
passed^beyond  the  active  stage,  and  at  the  same  time 
it  keeps  the  current  record  all  together  in  one  place 
and  constantly  before  the  operator.  No  other 
system  can  do  this  without  the  necessity  of  doing  a 
large  amount  of  superfluous  work  and  at  the  end 
of  a  period  leave  information  stored  away  in  bound 
books  not  easily  available. 

Under  the  head  of  Loose  Sheets,  of  course,  the 
manifold  books  for  salesmen's  use, — duplicate,  trip- 
licate, or  quadruplicate  as  required.  Order  blanks  for 
salesmen, — duplicate  or  triplicate.  Receipt  blanks 
for  salesmen,  expense  reports  and  all  other  neces- 
sary reports. 

The  entry  departments  require  the  bill  and  charge 
blanks  in  duplicate,  triplicate  and  quadruplicate; 
also  require  recapitulation  blanks.  The  pricing 
department  should  be  provided  with  the  recapitula- 
tion blanks  and  loose  leaf  price  books  which  are 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  157 

indexed  especially  for  the  purpose  and  which  can 
be  referred  to  instantly  in  regard  to  prices  or  changes 
of  prices.  The  profit  department  should  also  be 
provided  with  loose  leaf  books,  recapitulation  blanks 
and  salesmen's  ledgers. 

In  the  cashiers  department  the  books  necessary 
to  be  carried  are  the  records  referred  to  in  Chapter 
7  on  loose  leaf  cash  books. 

The  mail  order  department  should  have  loose 
leaf  records  of  advertising  matter,  which  has  been 
sent  to  customers  with  prices  quoted  which  can  be 
arranged  as  desired.  A  key  record  for  advertising 
should  be  kept  in  this  department,  which  should  be 
arranged  so  that  the  contract  for  the  advertising 
is  given  at  the  head  of  the  page  and  the  credit  for 
answers  received  under  the  key  below.  At  the  close 
of  the  contract  or  any  given  period  thereafter,  the 
number  of  answers  received  can  be  computed,  the 
net  cost  per  answer  obtained,  the  number  of  orders 
received  through  the  advertisement  easily  kept  track 
of,  and  the  final  results  of  loss  or  gain  upon  the 
advertising  contract  determined.  This  information 
is  of  the  greatest  value  to  the  advertising  manager 
of  the  concern,  as  a  reference  to  the  results  obtained 
through  different  mediums  enables  him  to  save  a 
LARGE  AMOUNT  OF  THE  FIRM'S  MONEY 
iii  placing  his  advertising  contracts.  In  the  mail  order 
department  should  also  be  kept  a  loose  leaf  record 
of  the  orders  recieved,  and  such  other  data  as  may 
be  deemed  necessary  or  required  by  the  business. 
The  advertising  department  can  use  loose  leaf 


158  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

books  to  the  greatest  advantage  by  carrying  their 
advertising  accounts  the  same  as  individual  accounts, 
keeping  a  record  of  contracts  and  payments  made 
thereon  from  information  received  from  the  cash- 
ier; also  as  to  returns  from  information  received 
from  the  cashier;  also  as  to  the  returns  from  such 
advertising  as  is  possible  to  trace  from  in- 
formation received  from  the  mail-order  de- 
'  partment,  and  thus  keep  the  business  well  in  hand. 
Under  the  advertising  department  usually  the  mat- 
ter of  catalogue  and  price  books  is  handled,  of  which 
I  have  spoken  before  in  this  chapter. 

We  come  at  last  to  the  Accounting  department ; 
the  official  center  of  information.  In  connection 
with  this  department,  the  chapters  upon  the  ledger 
No.  2,  No.  3,  and  No.  4  fully  cover  the  subject  of 
General  ledgers,  Private  ledgers,  Stock  ledgers,  and 
Sales  ledgers ;  also  the  manner  of  use.  A  whole- 
sale house  usually  requires  in  addition  to  the  regu- 
lar ledgers  in  this  department  a  Bills  Receivable 
Book,  a  Suspense  ledger,  an  Attorney's  ledger,  Ac- 
counts Payable  Book,  a  Bills  Payable  Book,  Re- 
capitulation Books  for  the  ledger  system,  Perpet- 
ual Trial  Balance  Book,  and  in  some  offices  a  col- 
lection Tickler.  The  Bills  Receivable  Register  can 
be  arranged  in  the  manner  best  suited  to  the  de- 
mands of  the  business ;  the  ruling  and  columns  can 
be  made  to  suit  any  occasion  and  can  be  indexed  for 
due  dates  if  desired.  The  balance  of  the  Bills  Re- 
ceivable represented  in  this  book  should  at  all  times 


\  • 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  159 

ue  the  same  as  the  balance  of  the  Bills  Receivable 
account  in  the  General  ledger. 

Some  firms  carry  their  Attorney's  account  in  a 
Suspense  ledger;  other  firms  prefer  two  ledgers — 
one  called  Suspense  carrying  such  accounts  as  are 
inactive  and  uncertain,  but  at  the  same  time  they 
have  not  been  given  to  Attorneys  for  collection,  for 
reasons.  Such  suspense  accounts  are  frequently 
small  accounts  of  disputed  items  and  occasionally 
accounts  of  parties  who  are  perfectly  good,  but  on 
account  of  some  misunderstanding  are  holding  ac- 
counts open  and  unpaid. 

Of  course,  the  Attorney's  ledger  represents  such 
accounts  as  have  been  passed  over  to  the  Attorneys 
for  collection.  These  ledgers  should  be  in  duplicate, 
as  it  is  important  that  the  Suspense  and  Attorney's 
ledgers  should  be  kept  current.  Perhaps  more 
so  than  any  books  in  the  house.  The  great  advant- 
age of  being  able  to  transfer  the  account  in  its  en- 
tirety from  any  Sales  ledger  direct  to  the  Attorney's 
ledger,  to  keep  all  such  accounts  together  and  to  be 
able  to  make  notations  furnished  by  the  Collection 
Agent  as  to  a  settlement  or  prospective  settlement 
upon  an  original  account ;  to  have  this  information 
directly  before  the  eye  of  the  credit  man  without 
the  necessity  of  going  through  a  large  amount  of 
extraneous  matter;  and  the  fact  that,  they  are  col- 
lated and  systematically  arranged,  renders  it  pos- 
sible for  the  credit  man  to  urge  the  collection  very 
much  more  readily,  and  there  is  no  question  that  the 
proper  use  of  the  Suspense  and  Attorney's  ledger 


160  LOOSE    LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

WILL  DECREASE  TO  A  VERY  LARGE   EXTENT   THE 
LOSSES  OF  THE  FIRM. 

The  uses  of  the  Accounts  Payable  and  Bills  Rec- 
eivable Books  are  apparent  to  every  book-keeper. 

The  Recapitulation  book  should  be  built  up  from 
the  ledger  system;  it  should  have  columns  for  each 
ledger  or  series  of  ledgers  in  use  and  should  run 
both  debit  and  credit.  It  should  be  arranged  with 
lines  sufficient  for  the  daily  recapitulation  for  one 
month  upon  one  page;  the  debit  postings  for  the 
day  being  inserted  under  its  proper  caption  from 
whatever  sources  obtained  will  give  in  its  entirety 
the  total  debit  postings;  the  credit  postings  for  the 
day  arranged  in  their  proper  columns  will  give  in 
their  entirety  the  total  credit  postings  for  the  day; 
these  again  taken  in  connection  with  the  previous 
day's  balance  will  show  the  total  balance  for  the  day. 
The  daily  recapitulations  added  at  the  end  of  the 
month  will  give  the  monthly  debit  postings  from 
every  source,  which,  taken  in  connection  with  the 
previous  month's  balance,  will  give  the  present 
months  balance.  Monthly  recapitulations  should  be 
kept  in  the  back  of  the  book  for  each  number  or 
series  of  ledgers,  giving  the  monthly  results,  and 
the  total  of  the  twelve  monthly  recapitulations  will 
give  the  total  debit  postings  from  every  source  for 
the  year,  and  the  total  credit  postings  from  every 
source  for  the  year  when  taken  in  connection  with 
the  previous  year's  balance  will  give  the  required 
for  the  present  year. 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  161 

The  Stock  books  of  large  houses  can  be  kept 
admirably  by  this  plan,  so  that  at  the  close  of  any 
week  or  any  given  period,  it  will  be  but  a  small 
amount  of  work  to  tell  the  exact  amount  of  stock 
on  hand. 

In  each  department  of  the  vast  wholesale  estab- 
lisments  of  the  country,  there  are  frequently  special 
books  required,  adapted  to  their  peculiar  business. 
I  have  endeavored  in  this  chapter  to  give  a  general 
idea  of  such  books  as  are  considered  necessary  in 
most  large  establishments,  but  I  do  not  desire  to 
have  anyone  consider  that  I  have  mentioned  all  of 
the  books  to  which  the  loose  leaf  can  be  adapted  in 
connection  with  wholesale  business,  as  it  would  be 
an  impossibility  to  do  this  without  knowing  the 
particular  requirements  of  the  business.  It  is  safe 
to  say,  however,  that  there  are  no  special  books 
used  in  any  line  of  business  that  cannot  be  success- 
fully converted  into  loose  leaf  books,  and  by  that 
conversion  be  more  advantageously  used  and  more 
satisfactory  in  every  respect. 

With  the  vast  advantage  offered  by  the  loose 
leaf  system  in  reducing  the  weight  of  books  handled 
and  in  being  able  to  multiply  indefinitely  divisions 
of  the  work  so  that  any  number  of  clerks  can  be 
employed  at  the  same  time;  in  the  fact  that  all  dead 
or  inactive  matter  is  released  immediately  from  the 
operators  hands,  and  so  held  that  it  does  not  require 
to  be  disturbed  except  for  reference,  and  conse- 
quently is  kept  in  the  best  condition;  the  additional 
fact  that  no  new  books  have  to  be  opened  of  ANY 


162  LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 

character  after  the  loose  leaf  system  is  thoroughly 
inaugurated,  as  it  is  in  itself  a  perpetual  record;  and 
ti.j  fact  tnat  the  time 'saved  in  handling  any  portion 
of  the  work  by  this  method — runs  from  20  to  40  per 
cent — are  ample  reasons  for  its  adoption  by  any 
wholesale  house. 

Thousands  of  the  largest  wholesale  houses  in 
every  line  are  now  using  loose  leaf  systems  to  their 
satisfaction,  and  thousands  more  are  changing  an- 
nually from  other  styles  of  book-keeping  to  the 
loose  leaf;  surely  there  could  be  no  stronger  argu- 
ment used  favoring  a  model  system  than  the  suc- 
cessful operation  of  it  by  so  many  of  the  largest 
houses. 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  16S 

CHAPTER  14. 

LOOSE  LEAF  BOOKS  IN  RETAIL  HOUSES. 
WHERE  A   CREDIT   BUSINESS  IS  DONE. 

While  the  introduction  of  loose  leaf  books  in 
wholesale  houses,  banks  and  other  large  business 
institutions  is  an  accomplished  fact,  it  has  been  taken 
up  but  gingerly  by  the  retail  trade,  and  principally 
from  the  fact  that  they  are  not  aware  of  the  proven 
and  particular  advantages  offered  them.  In  describ- 
ing the  system  for  any  retail  grocer  business,  it  will 
readily  give  the  general  system  for  all  branches  of 
trade  where  a  credit  business  is  conducted.  Such 
.changes  in  detail  that  are  peculiar  to  the  trade,  can 
be  easily  effected. 

It  is  no  longer  necessary  to  journalize  sales  from 
day-book,  an  order  blank  or  duplicate  sales  blank 
can  be  used  and  a  carbon  copy  for  posting 
can  be  made  if  desired.  Each  sales  clerk  can  be 
provided  with  case  or  cover  in  which  these  sales- 
blanks  are  held,  containing  both  original  and  dup- 
licate. The  original  is  given  to  the  customer  who 
takes  the  goods  with  him ;  or  is  sent  with  goods. 
The  duplicate  is  first  used  to  see  that  the  order  is 
properly  rilled,  and  afterwards  passed  to  the  book- 
keeper, who  files  it  in  its  proper  binder.  In  this 
manner  it  is  not  difficult  to  keep  cash  sales  and 
charge  sales  separate.  The  charge  sales  are  filed 
in  a  binder,  paged  consecutively  in  space  provided 
for  the  same,  afterwards  posted  by  book-keeper; 


164  LOOSE    LEAF    BOOK-KEEPING. 

but  in  crcler  to  facilitate  posting,  these  sales  blanks 
may  be  arranged  alphabetically  before  being  placed 
in  the  binder.  There  is  a  useful  method  by  which 
posting  can  be  made  with  less  trouble,  and  that  is 
a  system  of  statement  blanks  in  duplicate  with  the 
ledger  account  sheet  of  customer  on  the  left  hand 
side  of  the  binder  and  statement  blank  with  carbon 
for  duplicating  at  the  right  hand,  one  statement  to 
the  leaf,  both  statement  and  ledger  sheet  being 
carried  in  the  same  binder.  Posting  can  be  made 
direct  from  sales  blank  to  the  statement  blank  and 
at  the  end  of  the  month  the  statement  blank  is 
computed  and  only  one  posting  is  necessary  to  the 
account  upon  opposite  page.  The  statement  blank 
is  then  torn  from  the  book  at  the  perforation  and  is 
sent  to  the  customer.  The  book-keeper  will  read- 
ily see  that  by  this  method  of  work  at  the  close  of  the 
month,  say  the  3ist,  there  would  be  but  one  day's 
posting  necessary  to  complete  all  of  his  statements 
and  they  can  thus  be  immediately  transmitted  to 
the  customer.  The  duplicates  of  statements  or  post- 
ings render  an  explicit  and  ever  ready  account  of 
the  one  month's  posting  made  to  the  debit  of  the 
customer.  The  under  sheet  or  duplicate  sheet  of 
this  statement  plan  is  perfectly  plain  and  is  retained 
in  the  office,  and  placed  in  a  permanent  binder. 
Where  the  business  is  sufficient  to  warrant,  it  is  an 
excellent  plan  to  have  a  statement  binder  for  each 
month  so  that  these  duplicate  statement  sheets  may 
be  congregated  and  kept  in  this  binder.  In  this 
event  the  binder  is  indexed  similar  to  the  other 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  165 

books,  and  all  of  the  names  are  arranged  in  proper 
line  by  the  Lexicon  System;  thus  in  looking  for  a 
name  in  this  book,  it  would  be  only  necessary  to 
look  for  it  the  same  as  you  would  in  a  directory. 
As  the  ledger  account  might  possibly  over-run  the 
length  of  a  single  leaf  and  thus  necessitate  the  turn- 
ing of  a  leaf  and  entry  on  left-hand  side  of  the 
binder  where  the  statement  of  a  customer  should 
be  kept  this  ledger  sheet  can  easily  be  made  in  what 
is  called  "Tumble  Form"  so  that  turning  a  leaf  end 
for  end  posting  may  be  continued  on  right-hand  side 
of  binder.  Of  course  ledger  ruling  can  be  made  in 
any  size  or  style  desired,  columnary  arrangement 
can  correspond  with  statement  ruling,  and  with  one 
date  column  there  is  no  necessity  of  repetition;  but 
account  may  continue  down  the  page.  Where  the 
balance  column  is  used,  the  balance  is  always  oppo- 
site last  sales  entry,  and  this  is  useful  in  locating 
balance,  and  also  for  the  ready  reference  in  regard 
to  status  'of  the  customer's  account.  By  the  ^se  of 
this  book  every  line  of  every  page  can  be  used  and 
as  but  a  very  small  number  of  lines  are  in  use  each 
month,  the  ledger  leaf  will  last  a  yery  long  time. 
The  book-keeper  should  post  from  sales-blank 
to  statement  blank  every  day,  and  it  is  understood 
that  only  one  account  should  appear  upon  one  page, 
as  it  would  be  impossible  for  different  accounts  to 
be  entered  upon  the  same  page  or  leaf  and  preserve 
the  "Lexicon  System"  of  arrangement  of  sheets; 
which  is  the  greatest  feature  of  loose  leaf  work  and 
the  one  which  saves  the  book-keeper  the  most  time 


166  LOOSE   LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

and  annoyance.  Upon  making  the  posting  from 
sales  blank  the  number  used  on  the  blank  is  placed 
upon  the  statement  in  column  provided  and  it  is 
very  easy  at  any  time  to  refer  to  the  original  charge, 
and  the  carbon  copy  made  when  the  entries  are 
posted  furnishes  a  complete  itemized  record  of 
every  item  posted  and  also  every  credit  made  the 
customer  during  the  month.  Of  course  these  post- 
ings on  the  statement  for  grocer  business  would 
give  every  item  separately,  and  any  other  small  busi- 
ness where  the  charges  are  numbered,  the  statement 
blank  is  used  in  lieu  of  the  sales-book  and  on  this 
account  it  is  quite  necessary  to  have  it  explicit  in 
detail,  but  as  this  entire  operation  is  accomplished  at 
one  time,  and  as  the  entire  posting  of  the  month  is  in 
the  ledger  under  one  item,  it  will  not  take  a  very 
wise  man  to  recognize  the  great  saving  of  time,  the 
ease  in  manipulation,  certainty  of  customer's  state- 
ment being  out  on  time,  the  opportunity  for  a  double 
check  by  adding  statement  and  carbon  copy  sepa- 
rately and  the  checking  them  against  each  other,  and 
the  advantage  of  the  single  monthly  posting  to  the 
customer's  account  which  can  be  proven  at  any 
time  by  reference  to  the  itemized  statement  retained 
in  monthly  account  binder.  Credits  can  be  handled 
in  exactly  the  same  manner  and  it  is  always  a  good 
plan  to  have  the  credit  blanks  on  a  different  colored 
paper  than  the  sales  blank,  but  of  the  same  size. 
They  can  be  numbered  consecutively  each  month 
posted  in  same  manner  as  debit  on  statement  at  the 
time  when  the  .credit  is  given  and  filed  each  day  in 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  167 

same  manner  as  sales  blanks.  Of  course  at  the  close 
of  the  month  it  will  be  necessary  to  deduct  from  the 
total  of  the  charges  the  entire  amount  of  credits 
during  the  month,  which  will  leave  the  total  amount 
of  customers'  monthly  purchases.  Of  course  state- 
ment will  then  show,  itemized,  all  goods  purchased 
with  dates,  and  also  the  proper  credits  for  all  goods 
returned. 

The  cash  paid  during  the  month  will  be  posted 
direct  to  customer's  ledger  account  and  will  not  ap- 
pear upon  the  statement  until  the  end  of  the  month, 
at  which  time  it  would  of  course  have  to-be  shown 
together  with  the  previous  month's  balance  and 
deducted  therefrom,  the  result  added  to  the  month's 
purchases  will  then  show  total  amount  due.  If  this 
is  done  there  is  no  further  necessity  for  labor,  ex- 
cept to  tear  off  statements  at  perforation  and  mail 
them  direct  to  customers.  The  total  of  each  cus- 
tomer's purchases,  less  credit  for  goods  returned, 
should  be  posted  to  the  ledger  account  as  soon  as  it 
is  totaled. 

A  vertical  file  can  be  used  for  filing  duplicate  state- 
ments if  it  is  desired  under  alphabetical  order,  which 
will  do  away  to  a  large  extent  with  the  number  of 
binders  necessary  for  the  duplicate  monthly  state- 
ments. It  will  be  readily  seen  that  as  soon  as  dupli- 
cate statements  are  removed  from  current  binder,  it 
will  be  necessary  for  another  set  of  statements  to  be 
inserted,  so  that  same  may  be  ready  immediately  for 
the  new  month's  business.  It  is  usual  in  retail  houses 
to  have  a  recapitulation  sheet  of  each  day's  sales 


168  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

made  up  by  the  book-keeper  or  assistant,  and  veri- 
fied by  reports  of  the  sales  of  each  clerk,  added  to 
show  the  total  sales. 

This  verification  is  rendered  easy  on  account  of 
the  fact  that  each  sales  book  of  the  salesman  is 
numbered  or  lettered,  and  in  the  recapitulation  sheet 
will  appear  in  its  proper  column.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  combine  this  statement  form  for  a  retail 
ledger.  I  have  given  it  first  on  account  of  the  fact 
that  I  consider  it  the  best  possible  method  of  hand- 
ling retail  accounts  with  ease  and  absolute  pre- 
cision. Another  very  easy  method  of  handling  this 
statement  ledger  account  would  be,  to  file  the  origi- 
nal statement  under  its  proper  index  head  and  use 
this  record  for  the  ledger  account.  The  only 
serious  objection  to  this  arrangement  in  a  retail 
business  comes  from  the  fact  that  many  customers 
do  not  pay  their  monthly  accounts  in  full,  but  are 
continually  making  payments  on  account.  For  this 
character  of  customer,  it  would  be  very  difficult  to 
keep  track  of  the  accounts  in  this  manner.  A  regu- 
lar loose  leaf  ledger  could  be  made  up  with  the  debit 
side  of  the  account  much  wider,  and  the  debit  item 
space  much  wider  than  the  credit  side,  then  the 
items  as  taken  from  the  different  sales  books  could 
be  entered  and  itemized  in  the  ledger  itself,  from 
which  a  statement  could  be  easily  rendered  the  cus- 
tomer in  the  usual  manner. 

Wherever  this  is  done,  the  great  advantage  of  the 
loose  leaf  system  consists  in  the  fact  that  the  pages 
of  a  ledger  used  in  such  a  manner  fill  up  very  rapid- 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  169 

ly.  In  any  character  of  sewed  book  this  becomes  a 
detriment  to  the  handler  on  account  of  there  being 
a  great  deal  of  dead  matter  to  go  over  in  each  case 
where  it  is  necessary  to  make  out  statements. 

I  think  the  most  important  benefit  to  be  derived 
from  keeping  only  current  accounts  together  in  the 
retail  business  is,  the  facility  of  collection  from  cus- 
tomers which  this  arrangement  materially  assists. 
Wherever  accounts  are  scattered  through  a  large 
ledger  and  kept  in  the  usual  slip-shod, 
hap-hazzard  manner  used  in  ordinary  retail 
stores,  it  is  quite  frequently  the  case  in 
making  out  monthly  statements  that  some 
of  them  are  overlooked,  and  especially  if  they  have 
ceased  to  buy  and  become  in  a  measure  an  uncertain 
account.  Of  course  it  will  be  readily  seen  that  if 
the  inactive  accounts  and  filled  pages  are  eliminated, 
there  is  very  much  less  likelihood  of  passing  any 
open  account  as  each  page  must  receive  its  proper 
consideration. 

A  loose  leaf  book  which  would  be  of  great  benefit 
to  all  retail  business,  large  or  small,  would  be  a  pur- 
chase record,  wherein  could  be  recorded  every  bill 
of  goods  received  in  the  house,  also  the  O.  K.  of  the 
receiver  of  goods,  checker,  extender,  etc.,  with  re- 
bates and  discounts,  if  any;  time  of  payment,  when 
paid,  and  all  such  matters  as  appertain  to  this  por- 
tion of  the  business.  Its  use  in  a  retail  business 
would  be  quite  desirable  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
wholesale  credit  man,  for  the  balance  on  this  book 
would  at  all  times  show  the  outstanding  liabilities 


170  LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 

for  goods  purchased  by  the  house.  A  fuller  descrip- 
tion of  this  book  is  given  in  Chapter  9  on  ''Special 
Books." 

With  a  large,  growing  retail  business  like  a  de- 
partment store,  while  the  same  arrangements  may  be 
satisfactory,  they  would  be  conducted  on  a  much 
larger  scale  and  would  require  to  a  certain  extent  a 
class  of  books  particularly  adapted  to  their  busi- 
ness, and  more  of  the  nature  of  those  used  by  whole- 
sale houses,  which  have  been  described  in  a  chapter 
on  that  subject. 

There  is  no  question  whatever  that  loose  leaf 
books  of  all  descriptions  can  be  adapted  to  any  busi- 
ness requiring  a  set  of  books  to  be  kept ;  but,  of 
course,  it  is  impossible  in  a  single  chapter  to  cover 
all  of  the  features  which  may  arise  owing  to  the  size 
or  character  of  the  business.  The  handling  of  re- 
tail ledgers  is  to  a  certain  extent  the  same  as  de- 
scribed in  chapters  2,  3  and  4,  of  course  modified  to 
suit  the  nature  or  magnitude  of  the  business. 

The  books  and  blanks  suggested  for  a  complete 
system  for  retail  houses  would  be  for  the  purchas- 
ing department,  requisition  blanks  in  duplicate,  re- 
ceiving blanks  in  duplicate,  stock  records,  inventory 
blanks,  purchase  ledger,  (if  business  is  conducted 
in  the  manner  whereby  purchase  accounts  are  kept 
and  the  bils  are  entered  up  through  the  journal; 
otherwise  the  purchase  ledger  would  not  be  neces- 
sary and  its  place  would  be  taken  by  the  purchase 
record).  It  will  also  be  found  convenient  to  put  in 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  171 

a  Perpetual  Invoice  Filing.  System.  (See  Chap- 
ter 21). 

For  the  selling  department  it  will  be  nec- 
essary to  supply  them  with  duplicate  manifold  ac- 
counting slips,  the  bill  and  charge  and  receipt  sys- 
tem, the  monthly  statement  system  and  statement 
ledger  or  the  regular  sales  ledger  as  previously  de- 
scribed. 

In  the  general  accounting  department — which,  of 
course,  would  ta*ke  charge  of  the  ledgers  for  the 
two  departments  mentioned — in  all  ordinary  cases 
there  would  be  the  necessity  for  a  general  ledger 
and  perpetual  trial  balance,  an  attorney's  ledger 
(sometimes  called  a  Suspense  ledger),  to  which  ac- 
counts that  are  in  doubt  or  upon  which  it  is  found 
necessary  to  put  additional  pressure  may  be  trans- 
ferred, a  check  journal  or  register,  pay  roll  books, 
recapitulation  books,  tickler,  collection  sheets,  etc., 
etc. 

All  of  the  books  of  record  mentioned  above  should 
be  loose  leaf  ,and  the  system  could  be  so  fitted  as 
to  work  in  perfect  harmony. 

There  is  absolutely  no  reason  whatever  why  the 
introduction  of  the  loose  leaf  accounting  system 
throughout  the  general  retail  trade  should  not  be  ac- 
complished and  produce  the  very  best  results.  Of 
course,  what  we  mean  by  the  "general  retail  trade" 
in  this  regard  is,  a  retail  business  of  sufficient 
magnitude  to  keep  a  set  of  books  for  the  proper 
conduct  of  their  business,  and  it  has  usually  been 
found  that  where  retail  houses  are  not  of  this  mag- 


172  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

nitude  they  soon  pass  into  nothingness ;  for  the  first 
essential  in  establishing  even  a  small  business  is  to 
give  that  business  such  watchful  care  and  attention 
as  will  warrant  its  continuance  and  gradually  build 
it  up.  In  all  lines  of  business  where  credit  is  given, 
some  method  of  keeping  a  record  of  the  amount  of 
credit  extended  is  absolutely  necessary,  and  if  this 
record  is  slip-shod  and  not  carefuly  looked  after, 
it  becomes  worse  than  useless,  for  through  it  many 
dollars  are  lost  monthly  to  the  firm,  and  eventually 
by  such  careless  methods  many  an  otherwise  solvent 
firm  has  been  forced  into  liquidation. 

CHAPTER    15. 

LOOSE  LEAF  BOOKS  IN  MANUFACTURING 
PLANTS. 

The  manufacturing  interests  of  the  United  States 
are  probably  the  most  varied  of  any  country  in  the 
world,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  in  the  number  of 
manufacturing  establishments  this  country  leads  all 
others.  While  in  the  matter  of  book-keeping  in  a 
manufacturing  establishment  there  is  generally  less 
detail  than  in  wholesales  lines,  banks,  insurance  of- 
fices, etc.,  etc.,  it  is  still  as  improtant  for  manufact- 
uring establishments  to  keep  their  records  in  the 
best  possible  manner  as  it  can  be  for  other  houses 
having  a  greater  volume  of  clerical  work. 

As  a  usual  thing  the  accounting  department  in 
a  manufacturing  business  is  not  extensive  and  does 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


173 


174  LOOSE   LEA'1   BOOK-KEEPING. 

'not  require  any  more  books  than  the  regulation 
supply,  namely :  Private  ledger,  General  ledger, 
Stock  ledger,  Sales  ledgers,  Cash  book,  Purchase 
record  or  ledger.  Voucher  system  and  journal;  but 
the  requirements  of  manufacturing  houses  for  sub- 
sidiary books  are  almost  illimitable. 

In  considering  the  above,  I  do  not  refer  to  the 
immense  manufacturing  interests, — some  of  them 
operating  a  large  number  of  plants  under  one  man- 
agement— but  simply  to  the  individual  manufactur- 
ing concerns. 

The  details  regarding  the  books  mentioned  as 
necessary  in  the  accounting  department  for  manu- 
facturing concerns  will  be  found  fully  described  in 
other  chapters  of  this  book,  and  it  is  unnecassary 
to  repeat,  as  the  method  as  far  as  these  books  are 
concerned  is  almost  identical,  whether  they  are  rep- 
resentative books  for  a  retail  or  wholesale  selling 
establishment  or  for  a  manufacturing  concern. 

It  is  true,  however,  that  in  the  matter  of  subsidiary 
books,  the  manufacturing  house  has  many  places 
where  books  are  needed,  and  where  records  must  be 
kept  that  are  not  found  in  other  lines. 

The  matter  of  ascertaining  the  cost  of  manufact- 
ured articles  is  carefully  considered  these  days.  The 
costs  systems  in  large  establishments  are  complete 
and  thorough,  and  the  arrangement  for  handling 
them  through  the  medium  of  the  loose  leaf  is  all 
that  could  be  desired.  Taking  a  single  article,  for 
instance,  which  requires  the  manipulation  of  a  large 
number  of  departments,  a  proper  form  can  be  con- 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  175 

structed  which  will  find  its  final  resting  place  properly 
indexed  in  the  binder  provided  for  that  purpose,  but 
in  the  interim  the  form  is  handled  as  a  loose  sheet ; 
the  article  is  entered  on  the  headline  and  it  starts 
upon  its  journey.  The  first  entry  thereon  will  be 
for  crude  material  used  in  manufacture,  giving  the 
amount  necessary  for  the  production  of  the  article, 
then  will  follow  the  time  in  the  first  department ; 
the  article  and  the  sheet  passes  on  to  another  de- 
partment whereon  such  additions  are  made  as  is  nec- 
essary— of  either  material  or  labor — and  so  on 
through  each  department  until  the  finished  product 
appears,  when  the  cost  sheet  is  turned  over  to  the 
extender  and  the  cost  of  the  article  is  readily  ascer- 
tained. 

In  many  manufacturing  plants  this  is  not  con- 
fined to  a  single  article  but  to  a  large  number  of 
articles  called  a  "lot"  and  described  as  Lot  No.  6, 
etc.,  and  the  final  result  gives  the  net  manufactur- 
ing cost  for  the  entire  lot,  which  can  be  reduced  to 
hundreds,  dozens,  or  the  single  piece  as  is  desired. 
In  order  to  assist  in  this  work  various  devices  are 
employed  by  large  manufacturers,  such  as  Time 
Recording  Clocks, — where  the  operator  records  the 
time  automatically  upon  each  piece  or  lot  and  pass- 
ing on  from  operator  to  operator  the  full  time  occu- 
pied in  the  production  of  the  goods  in  each  depart- 
ment is  recorded  in  this  accurate  manner. 

Of  course,  when  these  sheets  are  collected  and 
placed  in  the  binder,  properly  indexed,  they  form  very 
valuable  data  for  the  manufacturer's  information; 


176  LOOSE   LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

and  as  the  cost  of  producing  goods  varies  from  time 
to  time  on  account  of  the  variation  of  the  cost  of  the 
crude  material  and  labor,  the  continuation  of  the  cost 
system  has  become  a  necessity. 

Every  manufacturing  institution  should  have  re- 
ceiving department  records  and  shipping  department 
records,  as  well  as  stock  books. 

The  large  number  of  employes  in  manufacturing 
plants  makes  it  necessary  for  the  most  perfect  ser- 
vice of  time  sheets  and  pay-rolls  to  be  kept;  and 
as  these  records  are  likely  to  be  referred  to  from 
time  to  time  for  various  information,  it  is  quite  nec- 
essary that  they  be  kept  in  continuous  order.  There 
is  no  method  of  doing  thisxquite  so  good  as  the 
loose  leaf  system,  for  the  reasoii  that  the  time  sheets 
and  pay-roll  records  while  they  are  current  and 
when  they  are  being  produced  emanate  from  differ- 
ent departments  and  frequently  from  different  fac- 
tories, and  it  is  necessary  to  collate  them  afterward 
in  proper  form.  With  the  old  plan  of  bound  books  it 
was  necessary  to  have  a  separate  book  for  each  de- 
partment, and  it  was  an  absolute  impossibility  to 
bring  them  together  as  a  continuous  uninterrupted 
record. 

It  is  usually  the  case  that  in  large  manufacturing 
establishments  loose  leaf  books  are  provided  for  an 
analysis  and  comparison  of  expense  as  well  as  reve- 
nues, averages,  etc. ;  for  coincident  period  and  as  the 
variety  of  such  records  is  endless  and  can  only  be 
determined  by  the  business  itself,  it  will  not  be  possi- 
ble to  complete  the  list  of  necessary  books. 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 


177 


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178  LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 

The  facts  hold  true  with  manufacturing  establish- 
ments as  with  wholesales  houses,  namely:  that  a 
large  number  of  the  great  manufacturing  concerns 
of  this  country  have  already  adopted  the  system 
after  a  most  thorough  and  convincing  research,  and 
after  adopting  it  have  found  it  admirably  adapted  to 
their  needs  and  without  hesitancy  recom- 
mend it  to  other  concerns.  Of  course,  the 
loose  leaf  system  is  too  new  yet  to  be 
in  use  by  the  majority  of  either  business 
firms  or  manufacturing  plants,  but  it  is  gaining 
ground  with  such  remarkable  rapidity,  that  there 
seems  to  be  no  question  that  the  old-time  methods 
will  quietly  disappear  and  go  into  a  "Rip  Van 
Winkle  sleep."  It  may  be  possible  in  the  future 
for  some  better  system  to  be  evolved  out  of  the  loose 
leaf,  but  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  up  to  date  there 
is  nothing  that  can  compete  with  it  for  convenience, 
desirability,  ready  reference,  time  and  labor  saving. 

For  manufacturing  establishments  with  a  number 
of  branches  and  one  general  headquarters,  it  is 
usually  an  important  matter  to  have  records  of  the 
branches  brought  together  at  headquarters  in  such 
a  way  as  to  give  quick  access  to  all  past  as  well  as 
present  records.  For  such  purposes  the  loose  leaf 
idea  is  invaluable.  Sheets  may  be  made  of  uniform 
size,  and  written  in  duplicate  with  the  aid  of  carbon 
paper  if  desirable ;  one  copy  being  retained  at  the 
branch  and  the  other  sent  to  headquarters,  where  it 
may  be  carried  in  a  binder  indexed  by  the  names  of 
the  branches.  In  this  way  the  general  office  has  in 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  179 

the  most  accessible  form,  cost,  as  well  as  other  rec- 
ords, which  may  be  used  for  comparison  as  between 
the  different  branches,  or  between  different  periods 
of  time. 

Among  the  various  manufacturing  interests  which 
have  grown  to  a  magnitude  not  comprehended  by 
many,  the  Brewery  interests  comes  first  on  the  list. 

They  require  different  books  from  any  other  class 
of  business  for  keeping  their  customer's  accounts. 
The  general  books,  cash,  general  ledger,  stock  books, 
payrolls,  etc.,  are  similar  to  other  wholesale  or  man- 
ufacturing lines,  but  their  customer's  ledgers  are 
very  different. 

In  the  keg  beer  department  the  sales  are  made 
daily  to  the  same  people,  and  are  entirely  local,  there- 
fore it  can  be  found  most  convenient  to  make  up  a 
leaf  that  will  last  for  six  months,  and  give  a  record 
of  the  amount  of  beer  received  by  the  customer,  in 
*4,  y*  and  whole  barrels  daily.  This  bill  must  be 
promptly  settled  or  the  account  is  closed,  and  no 
more  beer  is  delivered. 

In  systemizing  the  delivery  a '  certain  number  of 
contiguous  places  are  on  one  driver's  route,  there- 
fore it  is  best  to  divide  the  ledger  by  routes.  If  the 
route  changes,  or  if  it  is  divided,  as  it  often  has  to 
be  in  bad  weather,  the  changes  can  be  made  in  the 
leaves  so  that  they  are  always  in  their  proper  place. 
One  man  may  drop  out  and  another  substituted,  and 
the  loose  leaf  is  the  best  method  in  the  world  for 
keeping  this  ledger  up.  Filled  pages  can  be  placed 
in  the  Transfer  under  their  proper  alphabetical  ar- 
rangement and  the  current  book  of  record  kept  down 
to  the  exact  number  of  customers. 


180  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KMEPING. 

I  33S1 

In  the  bottling  department  a  very  difficult  task 
presents  itself,  as  all  breweries  sell  the  packages  and 
the  beer  separately,  charging  each.  The  packages  are 
returnable.  A  balance  must  be  maintained  at  all 
times  in  the  same  account,  both  of  packages  and  of 
beer.  The  changes  in  these  accounts  are  frequent, 
and  nothing  has  ever  been  found  as  perfect  as  the 
loose  leaf  ledger  in  handling  this  branch  of  the 
business. 

CHAPTER  16. 

LOOSE  LEAF  BOOKS  IN  TRANSPORTATION 
COMPANIES. 

All  transporation  companies  have  a  very  large 
amount  of  clerical  work.  There  is  no  department 
that  does  not  require  a  large  force  of  clerks  and 
a  large  number  of  books ;  this  is  not  only  true  regard- 
ing steam  railroads  but  also  electric  lines,  street 
railways  and  water  transportation  companies.  The 
minutia  necessary  for  the  proper  conduct  of  these 
large  companies  are  numerous,  and  any  method 
which  can  be  devised  for  reducing  the  labor  or  pro- 
ducing better  results  meets  with  a  very  ready  rec- 
ognition from  the  officers  in  charge.  The  auditor's 
department  usually  is  over-loaded  with  its  reports, 
abstracts,  compilation  of  necessary  data  for  a  com- 
plete record  of  the  transactions,  comparative  state- 
ments upon  almost  every  imaginable  subject — from 
the  movement  of  trains  to  the  co*t  of  the  smallest 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  181 

expense  items — and  the  consequence  is  that  they 
have  a  vtry  large  force  of  clerks,  and  a  very  great 
assortment  of  books  is  necessary. 

On  account  of  the  large  dealings  of  these  com- 
panies in  every-day  transactions,  it  is  impossible  to 
keep  their  records  in  books  of  ordinary  size;  and, 
therefore,  it  is  found  that  railway  companies  and 
steam  navigation  companies,  particularly,  use  very 
large  books,  and  very  many  of  them.  This  is  true 
also  of  the  electric  railway  companies  and  other 
forms  of  inter-urban  transportation. 

These  companies,  many  of  them,  have  already 
adopted  the  loose  leaf  system,  either  in  its  entirety  or 
for  a  portion  of  their  service,  and  as  they  become 
familiar  with  its  many  advantages  and  thoroughly 
aware  of  the  fact  that  it  is  one  of  the  greatest  labor 
savers  which  has  been  recently  introduced,  they 
will  all  adopt  the  system  throughout  their  entire 
business. 

.Railroads  require  a  full  line  of  loose  leaf  books 
in  their  auditing  department,  general  ledger,  special 
ledger,  stock  ledger,  bond  record,  cash  book,  re- 
ceipts and  disbursements,  etc.,  etc. 

The  passenger  department  requires,  passenger 
traffic  records  of  all  kinds,  including  issues  of  tick- 
ets and  record  of  reports  from  agants.  Ticket  issue 
record  is  ruled  as  follows: — From  Destination,  In- 
voice date 
Bal.  on  hand  Jan.  1st.  Tickets  invoiced  to  agents 

Com.  No.  Clo.  No.  Date. 

Com.  No.  Clos.  No.    Date.  Com.  No.   Clo.  No. 


182  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

year  of  Cr.  Then  follows  the  months  of  the  entire 
year  with  commencing  number  and  closing  number. 
After  this  comes  the  balance  on  hand  Dec.  3ist  with 
commencing  number  and  closing  number. 

The  freight  traffiic  department  has  many  records, 
including- often  the  coal  traffic  department. 

The  maintainance-  of  way  can  keep  the  most  ac- 
curate of  records  by  the  use  of  the  loose  leaf  books. 

Track  supervision  is  rendered  easy  by  the  use  of 
proper  records. 

Car  accounting  is  a  special  line  in  which  the  in- 
terchangeable leaf  is  nearly  indispensable. 

The  purchase  department  keeps  a  file  of  orders 
and  requisitions  in  loose  sheets,  turning  them  over 
to  permanent  binders  as  soon  as  the  orders  are 
filled  or  turned  down.  Bids  can  also  be  kept  most 
systematically  by  this  method.  Loose  leaf  is  neces- 
sary for  a  pocket  record  but  the  office  record  of 
costs  is  usually  kept  by  the  card  system. 

Mileage  records  and  tonnage  records  are  most  sat- 
isfactory by  loose  leaf. 

Agents  reports  can  be  made  upon  loose  sheets  so 
arranged  that  they  may  be  filed  at  the  general  office 
without  re-writing  thus  saving  a  great  amount  of 
time. 

Car  service  records  are  easily  kept  by  loose  leaf. 

The  method  of  having  an  interchangeable  leaf  is 
almost  indispensible  in  the  reports  and  various  rec- 
ords of  the  dining  car  service. 

Tax  records  are  kept  in  the  treasurer's  depart- 
ment by  loose  leaf. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  183 

Mail  carrying  records  are  easily  handled  if  the 
loose  leaf  system  is  adopted. 

The  telegraph  department  depends  upon  its  rec- 
ords for  a  careful  and  thorough  analysis  of  its  busi- 
ness. It  is  of  no  use  to  keep  closed  and  dead  pages, 
thus  it  will  be  found  that  the  loose  leaf  is  admirably 
adapted  to  this  work. 

In  the  claim  department  it  is  a  well  known  fact 
that  claims  are  made  which  "hang"  on  sometimes 
for  years.  Others  are  promptly  settled.  It  is  mani- 
festly most  satisfactory  to  have  at  all  times  a  current 
book. 

Bridge  records  and  building  records  are  very  sat- 
isfactorily handled  by  the  aid  of  the  loose  sheet. 
The  various  books  necessary  for  this  department  are 
well  known  by  those  handling  the  work. 

Store-house  books,  on  the  loose  leaf  plan  have 
given  such 'great  satisfaction  that  in  almost  every  in- 
stance they  have  been  first  to  inaugurate  this  great 
improvement. 

Fuel  accounts,  baggage  accounts  and  reports, 
hospital  and  emergency  reports,  land  department 
records  and  leased  lines  records  are  only  a  few  more 
uses  to  which  the  loose  leaf  books  are  admirably 
adapted. 

Street  Railroad  Companies.  From  the  pur- 
chasing department  of  one  of  the  largest  street  rail- 
way lines  of  the  United  States  I  obtained  some  data 
which  is  of  unusual  interest.  I  will  use  the  purchas- 


184  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

ing  agent's  own  words  in  describing  the  necessities 
of  the  system : 

"I  am  not  entirely  posted  regarding  the  depart- 
ment of  the  treasurer  but  I  know  that  they  are  using 
Minute  books,  Cash  books,  Stock  register  or  ledger 
and  Bond  registers  in  the  loose  leaf,  and  would  not 
change." 

"The  paymaster  uses  loose  leaves  for  the  various 
pay  rolls  and  has  them  bound  every  two  weeks  or 
month." 

"In  my  department  we  have  receiving  sheets, 
where  material  comes  in  and  is  entered  up.  These 
are  at  the  end  of  the  month  placed  in  Transfer  bind- 
ers, or  may  be  bound  if  thought  necessary." 

"Official  orders  are  made  upon  loose  sheets  in 
quadruplicate,  the  original  being  given  to  the  party 
from  whom  goods  are  purchased  and  the  other  three 
go  into  three  different  binders.  One  of  these  is 
bound,  one  is  for  the  store-room  for  unfilled  orders, 
and  one  is  for  the  "Back-order"  binder,  the  same 
being  destroyed  as  soon  as  the  order  is  filled." 

"I  use  loose  leaf  indexes  of  all  kinds.  Nothing  else 
will  do." 

"The  Requisition  book  is  an  important  loose  leaf 
acquisition.  It  comes  between  the  foreman  "and  the 
store-keeper  and  from  the  store-keeper  to  the  pur- 
chasing agent." 

"My  Price-book  is  loose  leaf,  and  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  that  it  should  be,  on  account  of  the  fre- 
quent changes.  I  have  tried  all  other  kinds  and 
they  are  failures." 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  185 

"I  keep  a  Form  book  for  stationery  in  the  loose 
leaf  and  find  it  very  convenient.  The  fact  is  that 
I  do  not  know  how  it  could  be  kept  in  any  other 
manner." 

"Besides  my  price  book  I  keep  a  card  index  of 
prices,  but  this  is  no  practical  value  unless  I  am  sit- 
ting at  my  desk." 

"The  Official  Time  Schedule  for  the  running  time 
of  cars  upon  the  different  divisions  is  subject  to  sud- 
den changes  and  at  times  great  changes,  hence  it 
is  absolute  that  it  must  be  kept  by  removable 
sheets." 

"In  the  Master  Mechanic's  department  the  loose 
leaf  is  also  found  very  available.  It  is  used  in  requi^ 
sitions,  shop  orders,  life  of  wheels  and  all  manner 
of  cost  accounts.  The  loose  leaf  is  fully  established 
in  both  our  power  houses  and  mechanical  depart- 
ment." 

"In  the  Motor,  Truck,  and  Car  repair  divisions 
I  really  do  not  know  what  they  would  do  without  this 
great  improvement.  Each  car  has  its  number  and 
leaf  and  a  total  record  is  made,  under  the  different 
divisions  of  "Motor,"  "Truck,"  "Car  Body"  of  all 
of  the  expenses  incurred  for  repairs  and  it  also 
gives  the  actual  record  of  the  life  of  the  motor,  and 
trucks  from  the  time  it  is  sent  out,  and  also  the  life 
of  the  car  body.  Under  each  of  these  main  headings 
are  a  number  of  sub-heads  with  columns  covering 
every  imaginable  repair.  These  car  records  give 
the  size,  when  built,  where,  and  the  original  cost." 

From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  the  value  of 


186  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

loose  leaf  accounting  books  has  been  recognized  by 
the  great  transportation  companies. 

The  idea  is  that  a  more  complete  record  can  be 
obtained  at  a  less  expenditure  of  labor  than  by  any 
other  means,  and  that  this  record  is  always  current. 
On  account  of  the  large  number  of  entries,  and  the 
magnitude  of  the  business,  the  leaves  of  transporta- 
tion companies,  whether  they  are  loose  or  perma- 
nently bound  must  be  large.  Hence,  it  is  of  more 
importance  than  ever  to  discard  all  of  the  dead  mat- 
ter as  soon  as  possible.  This  can  not  be  done  with 
old  fashioned  bound  books.  You  must  keep  the 
record  whether  dead  or  alive  until  the  book  is  ex- 
hausted. Any  book  when  made  of  the  extreme  size 
is  difficult  to  handle.  How  necessary  it  is  then  to 
handle  just  as  small  a  book  as  you  possibly  can. 

Besides  the  books  mentioned  above  it  is  quite 
necessary  that  the  accounting  department  be  pro- 
vided with  the  proper  ledgers,  and  subsidiary  books, 
and  it  is  advisable  that  they  be  made  like  the  rest  in 
loose  leaf. 

To  one  who  has  read  this  book  attentively,  it  will 
be  unnecessary  to  go  into  detail  in  regard  to  the 
reasons  for  the  use  of  the  loose  leaf  system  in  the 
railway  business,  and  it  is  quite  sufficient  to  say  that 
as  their  necessities  are  greater  on  account  of  the 
greater  number  of  books  which  they  require,  and 
the  greater  number  of  clerks  they  employ,  the  ad- 
vantageous results  to  them  of  its  introduction  would 
be  more  apparent  than  in  a  smaller  business  where 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  187 

the  auditing  department  was  not  of  as  much  magni- 
tude. 

Often  times  the  necessary  labor  of  a  change  from 
one  system  to  another  deters  a  firm  or  corporation 
from  acting,  until  they  become  absolutely  convinced 
in  their  "own  minds  that  the  change  will  be  profitable 
to  them  from  every  point  of  view;  but  when  they 
are  convinced  upon  these  points  and  further  defer 
making  such  changes  as  will  improve  their  business, 
they  are  acting  against  the  interests  of  themselves 
and  their  stockholders. 

It  will  be  quite  impossible  to  go  into  the  subject 
of  the  multiplicity  of  forms  used  in  transportation 
companies. 

CHAPTER  17. 

LOOSE    LEAF    BOOKS    IN   THE    LUMBER 
BUSINESS. 

As  a  rule  in  the  accounting  departments  of  those 
engaged  in  the  lumber  business  are  employed  the 
highest  class  of  accountants,  although  the  minutia 
of  this  business  cannot  be  compared  with  that  of 
many  others  which  have  been  reviewed  in  this  work. 

The  books  required  in  the  wholesale  or  retail 
lumber  trade  are  by  no  means  as  numerous  as  those 
in  use  in  different  lines  of  wholesale  business  or  in 
banking  institutions. 

In  the  accounting  department  the  regulation  books 
are  required,  viz. :  Cash  book,  journal,  ledgers,  etc., 


188  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

all  of  which  have  been  explained.  While  the  fact 
exists  that  there  are  not  so  many  books  necessary, 
it  is  just  as  much  to  the  interest  of  those  engaged 
in  this  industry  to  secure  the  best  results  as  it  would 
be  in  any  other  line,  and  the  lumber  interest  has  not 
been  slow  to  recognize  the  advantages  of  the 
loose  leaf  system  of  book-keeping  and  to  apply  it 
in  their  business. 

Besides  the  regular  accounting  books  there  are 
a  number  of  special  books  used  in  this  trade  differing 
from  each  other  on  account  of  individual  require- 
ments, and  very  different  from  those  in  use  in  any 
other  line  of  business. 

Quite  a  desirable  form  for  lumber  dealers  is  a 
Lumber  Call  book.  The  heading  is  as  follows : — 

Copied ....  190     Name Delivered  to 

Sold 190    Job 

Called  back  to Terms, 

Tms  form  is  so  arranged  that  there  are  six  col- 
umns on  the  left  side  of  the  sheet  with  3-i6th  lateral 
ruling  (See  Plate  No.  19)  giving  eighteen  divisions 
to  the  line,  so  that  each  load  can  be  entered  in  these 
divisions  and  called  back.  When  the  job  is  com- 
pleted the  price  is  entered  and  carried  over  into  the 
nionev  column. 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 


189 


One  particular  record  in  the  lumber  business, 
especially  among  those  who  handle  the  sash,  door 
and  blind  trade,  and  take  large  building  contracts 
is  the  estimate  form.  The  application  of  the  loose 
leaf  idea  to  this  particular  form  has  been  made  with 
great  success.  It  may  be  made  in  either  duplicate 
or  triplicate  forms  with  the  aid  of  carbon  paper. 
One  sheet  should  be  given  to  the  customer,  and  the 
other  one  or  two  sheets  retained  in  a  binder  filed 
alphabetically  until  the  order  is  placed  with  the  house 
or  it  is  known  to  be  lost  to  some  competitor.  If 
the  order  is  secured  one  of  the  two  sheets  retained 
may  be  placed  in  another  binder,  and  used  for  check- 
ing the  goods  out  from  the  yard  or  mill,  and  the  other 
retained  in  the  office  to  bill  from. 

In  this  way  the  check  sheet  and  the  bill  sheet  are 
finally  brought  together  and  being  filed  alphabetical- 
ly all  estimates  for  any  one  contractor  or  customer 
will  always  be  found  in  one  place.  If  the  order  is  lost 
the  sheet  may  still  be  placed  in  the  permanent  binder 
in  its  proper  position  marked  lost,  and  the  figures 
would  undoubtedly  be  of  value  in  making  estimates 
for  the  same  party  in  the  future. 


190  LOOSE   LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

If  it  is  undesirable  for  the  customer  to  see  the 
charges  made  for  each  item  the  sheet  that  is  given 
to  him  may  be  made  with  a  perforated  line  to  the 
left  of  the  amount  column  and  this  column  can  be 
detached  before  handing  over  the  sheet.  The  total 
bid  could  be  written  at  the  bottom  of  this  sheet  in 
some  convenient  place  and  the  customer  would  then 
have  a  complete  list  of  the  articles  to  be  furnished 
but  would  not  know  the  exact  cost  of  each  item. 

A  receiving  book  is  found  very  satisfactory  in  the 
loose  leaf  as  sizes  may  be  treated  separately,  and  filed 
alphabetically.  I  know  of  one  large  lumber  yard 
that  keep  what  they  call  an  "In"  book  and  an  "Out" 
book,  and  the  difference  in  these  two  records  at  any 
time  shows  the  stock  on  hand. 

Any  of  the  comparative  statement  books,  or  books 
of  record  necessary  to  be  kept  to  obtain  a  close 
analysis  of  the  business  will  be  found  more  conven- 
ient and  easier  to  handle  if  the  loose  sheet  is  used. 
The  records  when  filed  in  the  permanent  binders  are 
available  at  any  time  and  when  needed  are  not  stored 
away  or  in  a  half  dozen  different  books  and  as  many 
places,  but  are  all  combined,  and  in  "just  one  par- 
ticular spot." 

Many  interesting  facts  regarding  the  uses  of  loose 
leaf  have  been  given  in  this  work  and  it  is  unnec^- 
sary  to  repeat  in  each  chapter.  The  general 
ments  which  apply  to  one  will  apply  to  all. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  191 

CHAPTER   18. 
LOO^E  LEAF  BOOKS  IN  MUNICIPAL  WORK 

It  is  said  that  the  "City  Fathers"  are  very  slow  to 
move,  and  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  inaugurate  or 
change  systems  of  municipal  accounting  unless  there 
has  been  some  "crooked  work"  and  investigation 
ensues.  Under  this  stress,  and  prod,  they  sometimes 
completely  overhaul  their  methods  and  make 
changes. 

It  has  not  been  found  so  difficult  to  introduce  the 
loose  leaf  books  into  city,  county  and  state  depart- 
ments as  would  naturally  be  supposed,  and  while  it 
is  sometimes  a  long  and  tedious  task  to  reach  and 
convince  the  proper  parties,  when  they  are  con- 
vinced they  make  a  clean  sweep,  and  on  account  of 
the  very  large  number  of  departments  and  the  vast 
quantity  of  books  required,  it  makes  a  radical 
change  in  many  of  the  working  departments. 

As  is  naturally  the  case,  the  cities  are  the  first  to 
acknowledge  the  advantages  of  loose  leaf  books  in 
the  operation  of  their  various  accounting  depart- 
ments, and  a  number  of  them  are  now  in  line,  with 
many  others,  considering  the  propostion  of  the  in- 
troduction of  loose  leaf  books  in  most  of  the  de- 
partments. 

In  the  water  department  of  the  various  cities  the 
operation  of  interchangeable  leaf  books  is  exactly 
the  same  as  is  described  in  Chapter  n,  for  electric 


192  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

light,  gas  and  telephone  companies.  Plate  No.  31, 
gives  a  water  company  ledger  ruling.  As  these 
companies  extend  a  limited  amount  of  credit  to  a 
large  number  of  people  and  as  the  moving  and 
changing  on  account  of  death,  sales  and  removals 
from  the  city  necessitates  a  constant  change  in  the 
names  of  the  debtors,  it  is  found  to  be  advisable 
and  practical  to  use  the  interchangeable  leaf,  espec- 
ially on  account  of  two  facts :  One  being,  the  leaf 
can  be  so  arranged  that  six  or  eight  years  may  be 
accounted  for  without  transfer,  and  also  that  in 
case  the  debtor's  name  changes,  the  same  leaf  may 
be  removed  and  the  account  thereon  continued.  For 
instance,  if  water  service  is  rendered  by  meter  to 
Chas.  Benson,  who  continued  the  service  we  will 
say  for  two  years  and  was  finally  succeeded  by  Geo. 
Cox,  the  Benson  leaf  could  be  marked  "transferred 
to  Geo.  Cox,"  and  the  leaf  itself  changed  from  the 
B  index  to  the  C  index  and  properly  placed.  If  this 
party  in  six  months  was  succeeded  by  Mary  Robin- 
son, the  leaf  would  still  continue  under  her  name 
and  be  transfered  to  the  R's.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
the  account  is  practically  continuous  and  the  ad- 
vantage gained  by  being  able  to  transfer  the  entire 
leaf  is  not  only  the  saving  of  time  (necessary  to  open 
a  new  account),  but  is  also  advantageous  from  the 
fact  that  an  entire  record  is  maintained  of  the  full 
term  of  service. 

This  work  on  any  system  is  similar,  whether  it  be 
by  regular  annual  water  rental  or  meter  service. 
With  meter  service  the  necessity  of  keeping  sepa- 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  193 

rate  meter  books  is  apparent  and,  the  same  advan- 
tages that  are  gained  in  the  ledger  arrangement,  are 
also  gained  in  the  meter  service. 

The  task  of  enumerating  the  very  large  number 
of  books  used  in  municipal  accounting  is  one 
which  I  cannot  attempt  in  a  short  chapter,  but  in 
order  to  give  an  idea  of  the  class  of  books  used  and 
the  ruling  of  the  same,  I  give  a  number  of  forms 
taken  indiscriminately : 

CHICAGO  CITY  OFFICES. 

Miscellaneous  Debtor's  Ledger  is  a  double  double, 
headed :  City  of  Chicago — Office  of  the  Comptrol- 
ler, with  line  for  debtor's  name  and  address.  The 
ruling  is :  Date,  Reference  Book  Page,  Debit, 
Credit,  Balance. 

The  Appropriation  register  is  headed:  City  of 
Chicago,  —  Department.  —  Appropriations  for  the 
year  ending  December  31,  190...  The  ruling  is  in 
seven  unit  columns  and  consists  of  ten  columns  on 
one  page  and  seventeen  columns  upon  the  reverse 
side.  The  lines  of  each  page  for  explanatory  print- 
ing, ruling  down  the  left-hand  side  of  the  sheet  as 
follows :  Appropriation  followed  by  three  blue-ruled 
and  one  red-ruled  line  running  through  the  entire 
leaf.  Underneath  the  red-ruled  line  each  line  is  ex- 
plained as  follows :  January  Expenses — Balance  of 
Appropriation — February  Expenses — Expenses  to 
February  28 — Balance  of  Appropriation — March  Ex- 
penses— Expenses  to  March  31 — Balance  of  Appro- 
priation— April  Expenses — Expenses  to  April  30 — 


194  LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 

Balance  of  Appropriation — May  Expenses — Ex- 
penses to  May  31 — Balance  of  Appropriation — June 
Expenses — Expenses  to  June  30 — Balance  of  Ap- 
propriation— -July  Expenses — Expenses  to  July  31— 
Balance  of  Appropriation — August  Expenses — Ex- 
penses to  August  31 — Balance  of  Appropriation — 
September  Expenses — Expenses  to  September  30 — 
Balance  of  Appropriation — October  Expenses — Ex- 
penses to  October  31 — Balance  of  Appropriation — 
November  Expenses — Expenses  to  November  30 — 
Balance  of  Appropriation — December  Expenses — 
Expenses  to  December  31 — Balance  of  Appropria- 
tion. 

The  Warrant,  for   Collection   Register  is  headed: 
City  of  Chicago — Office  of  Comptroller — Month  of 

190.  ..     The   column   ruling  is   as   follows : 

Date,  No.  of  Warrant,  Rendered  Against,  Descrip- 
tion,  Amount,    Date   Paid,    Distribution,    Miscellan- 
eous, Brought  Forward. 
Revenue,  Expense,  Deposits.  Acct.     Folio.  Amount. 

The  Special  Assessment  Ledger  is  headed :     City 
of    Chicago — Office    of    Comptroller.      Number.... 

"nstallment Date   Certified   for   Collection.     The 

column  ruling  is  as  follows : 

Comptroller's  Voucher  Warrant,  Remitter  or  Payee, 

Amount   Certified   for   Collection,      Date,      Number 

Vouchers    Charged   Not    Paid,   When    Received   or 

Paid, 

Principal, 
Disbursements  Receipts  Cash    Balance 

Interest, 
Disbursements  Receipts  Cash   Balance 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


195 


ii 

1  , 
z  ? 

„ 

3 

£    rt    g  "~H    0  'rt 

-4—  *                   f-H                   J—  i        CJ 

—     •* 

^     2     ^     d     rt    "^ 

I 

"''     T 

^ 

-  |  8  -c  c  ^ 

.    'i 

I 

1 

cj    J^            on    H±    JJ 

*J    §  *O           T3    *§ 

1 

1  ! 

:  g-jirg.? 

1 

*             S 

s  j 

^  • 

!  *  * 

[1 

1 

4J    »g                        "V    ^ 

i  j 

|  '|    o  .g  ^    c 

8  J 

w            ^           ^     ° 

5 

«2  "^  5  ._,  ?        .. 

^o        "S    o    **   w 

2   E 

^  -  2    g  -a   o   | 

05         i>    w  _o  n3 

j 

rv    O      <D     2f  *^N     <ij    M-I 

j 

H 

,g<        B   S   °  '  £ 

C/U     <u     C     cj           .tn     en 

•§  2  fc  ™  "S  rt 

| 

(-1        (J        C/)       Cti     -rt        fl)       C/3 

~    --H     j3             cn           '^ 

d 

i 

H    J^    o    <u    C    <u    bx 

*  5 

I; 

.S      03    *S     0    T£    .£ 

PLATE  NO 

Special  Assessment  WM 

Z>J/,  Canf/rmtJ  >,v  Onrl 
Kefttnct  (ifiny)  mutt  It,  . 

196  LOOSE    LEAF    BOOK-KEEPING. 

SPECIAL  ASSESSMENT   WARRANT 

No Sheet  No For 

Grading,  Curbing,  Paving,  Filling,  Sewers,  Drains, 
Water  Pipes,  Water  Service  Pipes,  Macadamizing, 
Lamp  Posts,  Plank  Sidewalks,  Cement  Sidewalks. 

Form  No....  Date  of  Warrant ....  Date  Confirmed 
by  Court 

On Alley.  . .  .Reference  (if  any)  made  to  Spe- 
cial Assessment  Warrant  No Between 

Avenue                          Avenue 
Street  and Street 

I  will  give-  a  list  of  the  column  headings  with  the 
widtli  of  each  column  in  inches :  Under  Description 
is  Section — Township —  Range —  P.  M.,  with 
"Brought  Forward"  underneath  and  descriptive  col- 
umn of  i7/s,  Sub  Lot  ^/s,  Lot  y%,  Block  y%,  Amount 
of  Assessment  i.  Under  Collections  a  first  section 
under  "Date,"  Month  ^,  Day  ft,  Year  3/s ;  the  sec- 
ond section  under  City  Collector,  Assessment  I,  In- 
terest y%  ;  the  third  section  under  County  Collector, 
Assessment  i,  Interest  ^4,  Discount  I,  Fees  County 
L,  Balance — Black  Debit,  red  credit  i ;  under  Mis- 
cellaneous Item  i,  Amount  i.  The  sheet  is  I5^4x 
15 — and  ii  inches  from  the  top  of  the  left-hand  mar- 
gin is  printed 

TOTAL    CHARGEABLE    TO    PROPERTY CITY 

OF  CHICAGO   PUBLIC   BENEFITS   AMOUNT   OF 
Underneath  this  is  a  cut-off  heading  using  the  same 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  197 

ruling.  The  descriptive  column  is  headed,  Contract- 
or and  Other  Payments.  The  first  inch  column, 
The  Amount  of  Contract  or  Other  Items.  Under 
Vouchers  Paid,  Comptrollers,  Warrant  Number  I, 
Amount  I,  Interest  Paid  on  Vouchers  ^4.  Under 
Vouchers  Issued  and  Unpaid  there  is  a  second  sub- 
head of,  Board  of  Local  Improvements,  with  col- 
umns, Number  i,  Year  ^4,  Amount  i,  Interest  Paid 
Contractor  I.  Under  Judgments,  Principal  I,  Ex- 
planation I,  Interest  and  Costs  Included  in  Judg- 
ment I.  At  the  bottom,  in  the  descriptive  column, 
left-hand  are  the  words,  "General  Fund.  (See  Plate 
No.  46).  On  the  left-hand  sheet  the  columns  are 
headed:  Abatements,  with  a  sub-head,  "Ordered," 
underneath  which  is  Reference  I,  Amount  I,  and  a 
sub-head  "Paid,"  underneath  which  is  Date  ^, 
Comp.  War.  No.  VL  Amount  i.  Under  Rebates  and 
Refunds  is  a  sub-head  "Ordered  or  Authorized" 
with  columns,  Reference  I,  Amount  I ;  under  sub- 
head "Paid"  with  columns,  Date  ^,  Comp.  War. 
No.  y2,  Amount  i,  Blank  Column  I.  Under  Dispo- 
sition of  Other  Collected  Amounts,  Explanation  i, 
sub-head  "Judgments  Refused,"  Month  y4,  Day  ^, 
Year  l/4 ;  sub-head  "Property  Purchased"  are  two- 
heads  "Date  of  Tax  Certificate,"  Month  y4,  Day  y4, 
Year  >4,  "Tax  Deeds,"  Number  y2,  Book  %  ;  sub- 
head "Other  Reasons,"  Amount  I.  A  continuation 
of  the  cut-off  heading  4  inches  are  given  to  Miscel- 
laneous, Blank  i ;  "Balance  of  Contract,"  Due 
Contractor  i,  Amount  Paid  Contractor  Not  Col- 


198  i,OOSB   LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 

lected  on  Warrant,  Blank  3,  Amount  Over-Collected 
on  Warrant  (Rebates  not  Distributed)  i. 

It  is  not  often  that  a  cut  off  heading  can  be  carried 
with  the  same  ruling.  Where  it  is  done  it  is  some- 
times necessary  to  use  two  or  more  columns  where 
one  might  have  sufficed  had  it  been  specially  ruled. 

The  form  for  Transmission  of  Vouchers  from  the 
different  departments  to  the  City  Comptroller  is  a, 
double  double,  with  rulings,  Department  Number, 
Comptroller's  No.,  Amount,  and  a  Receipt  with  the 
date,  by  the  City  Comptroller  or  his  subordinate. 

The  Stock  Record  form  is  headed :  City  of  Chi- 
cago  Department.  Stock  Received.  Kind 

of  Material 

The  ruling  is  as  follows :  Date,  Requisition  No., 
Received  from  or  Issued  to,  Quantity  Received, 
Quantity  Issued,  On  Hand. 

The  Contract  form  is  as  follows,  heading: 

COTRACTOR    CONTRACT 

FOR 

CONTRACT      NO SPECIAL 

ASSESSMENT    NO 

DATE   OP  CONTRACT 

WORK  COMMENCED 

WORK  COMPLETED 

REMARKS CONTRACT  PRICE 

EXPIRATION  CONTRACT 

The  heading  takes  up  a  little  over  three  inches. 
The  ruling  is  as  follows :  Date,  No.  of  Estimate, 
No.  of  Installment,  Voucher  No.,  Blank  for  Items, 
Gross  Amount,  Reserve,  Amount  of  Voucher,  Grand 
Total. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  199 

The  report  of  License  heading  is  as  follows :  City 
of   Chicago— Office   of  the   City   Clerk.     Report   of 

Licenses  and  Permits  During  The Day  of. ... 

190..  The  ruling  is  as  follows  in  quadruple:  Li- 
cense and  Permit  No.,  Advice  No.,  Amount,  and  the 
leaf  is  1524x12. 

The  "Daily  Report  of  Pound  Keeper"  is  headed 

as  given  with  the  blank  Division  for  The Day 

of 190.  ..     Underneath,   Receipts,  with  ruling, 

Number  Received,  Description,  Owner,  By  Whom 
Impounded.  Releases,  Date  Received,  No.  Re- 
deemed or  Sold,  Description,  Owner,  Disposition, 
sub-head  Receipt,  No.,  Amount.  The  ruling  extends 
24  down  the  page,  the  report  as  follows : 
NO.  OF  HEAD. 

IN    POUND    LAST    REPORT 

RECEIVED    THIS    DAY 

TOTAL 

REDEEMED    OR    SOLD 

IN   POUND    . 


POUND  KEEPER. 

The  forms  in  use  in  municipal  departments  of  city, 
county  or  state,  are  entirely  too  numerous  to  en- 
deavor to  record  them  in  a  short  chapter,  but  their 
familiarity  to  those  who  are  handling  them  from 
day  to  day  will  readily  suggest  where  improvement 
can  be  made  by  substituting  a  loose  sheet  for  that 
now  bound  with  cord. 

State,  county  and  city  can  use  the  interchangeable 
leaf  for  a  great  many  of  their  records  to  much  ad- 
vantage. The  work  can  be  done  in  much  shorter 


200  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

time,  and  better  results  obtained.  It  is  wise  then 
for  those  who  have  not  up  to  this  time  thought  of 
these  evident  improvements  to  begin  to  investigate, 
and  by  inaugurating  a  model  system  call  especial  at- 
tention to  their  term  of  office  and  its  results.  Such 
a  course  frequently  means  re-election  and  even  if  it 
does  not  come  to  this  you  have  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  during  your  term  was  inaugurated  a 
service  which  is  a  saving  to  the  tax  payer  and  a 
benefit  to  the  community. 

CHAPTER  19. 

STATEMENTS. 

The  necessity  for  the  rendering  of  monthly  state- 
ments is  well  understood  by  every  book-keeper,  but 
the  advantage  of  frequent  statements — even  if  they 
come  oftener  than  once  a  month  in  the  matter  of 
keeping  an  account  closely  paid  up — is  not  so  thor- 
oughly comprehended. 

There  is  perhaps  no  better  way  to  collect  bills  than 
to  remind  a  man  of  his  indebtedness  as  often  as  is 
possible.  This  can  most  conveniently  be  done  by 
sending  him  a  statement  of  his  account,  and  because 
a  statement  has  been  sent  the  first  of  the  month,  is 
no  reason  whatever  why  another  should  not  be  sent 
on  the  loth  of  the  month  providing  the  customer  is 
delinquent. 

In  Chapter  15  is  given  a  method  of  statement  mak- 
ing with  loose  leaf  books,  which  differs  from  any- 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  201 

thing  that  is  possible  in  bound  books,  and  as  it  is 
fully  explained  in  that  chapter,  it  will  be  unnecessary 
to  go  into  detail  in  regard  to  this  method  here.  A 
prominent  work  of  accounting  says  in  regard  to 
statements :  "It  is  advisable  to  make  and  send  out 
statements  of  all  our  customers'  accounts  on  the 
first  of  every  month.  By  so  doing,  an  account  can- 
not escape  our  notice  and  thereby  be  allowed  to  re- 
main on  our  books  until  it  is  long  past  due  without 
the  person  having  been  notified  monthly  of  that 
fact.  Another  reason  for  so  doing  is  because,  if  any 
mistakes  have  been  made  in  posting  by  which  an 
item  was  posted  to  a  wrong  account,  or  to  a  wrong 
side  of  an  account,  we  are  then  notified  by  the  per- 
sons who  received  the  incorrect  statements  and  we 
may  then  make  the  corrections  in  the  ledger." 

The  reference  above  regarding  the  "allowing  ac- 
counts to  remain  on  the  books  until  they  are  long 
past  due"  is  an  especial  objection  to  bound  books, 
and  is  entirely  obviated  by  the  use  of  the  Loose 
Leaf  ledger  system.  The  reason  it  is  possible  for 
accounts  to  be  overlooked  in  the  old-style  ledger 
is  that,  in  many  cases,  there  are  a  number  of  ac- 
counts on  the  page,  several  of  which  are  closed  and 
perhaps  only  one  on  the  page  left  open.  With  from 
one  to  five  thousand  accounts,  it  is  not  unusual  in 
the  making  of  statements  to  pass  accounts,  as  the 
work  is  done  at  the  close  of  the  month,  usually  in 
haste  and  seldom  checked  back. 

Loose  Leaf  Accounting  books  render  this  al- 
most impossible,  from  the  fact  that  the  current  ledg- 


202  LOOSE   LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 

ers  from  which  the  statements  are  made  contain  only 
the  live  accounts;  the  inactive  accounts  having  been 
eliminated  and  transferred  to  another  book  which 
is  not  in  use.  The  fact  that  none  but  current  ac- 
counts are  before  the  writer  enables  statements  to 
be  made  very  much  more  rapidly  and  more  accur- 
ately. 

The  indexing  arrangements  of  loose  leaf  account- 
ing books  are  such  that,  in  whatever  manner  the 
book  is  handled,  the  statements  will  be  consecutively 
placed  by  turning  them  face  downwards  as  they  are 
made.  In  the  ledger  or  ledgers  arranged  on  the 
alphabetical  plan,  after  the  statements  are  com- 
pleted, they  will  be  all  found  to  run  alphabetically 
and  may  be  checked  back  very  quickly  with  no  loss 
of  time.  Where  the  state  and  town  arrangement 
of  indexing  is  used,  all  of  the  statements,  as  they 
are  made,  run  alphabetically  and  consecutively  for 
state,  town  and  customer;  thus  all  of  the  Texas 
statements  will  be  together,  can  be  mailed  together, 
and  are  received  essentially  at  the  same  time.  The 
advantage  of  this  is  apparent  to  anyone. 

Another  great  advantage  of  loose  leaf  books  in 
statement  making  is  the  fact  that,  these  ledgers 
seldom  contain  more  than  500  to  600  accounts, 
whereas  old-style  ledgers  were  frequently  made  to 
hold  upwards  of  1,500  to  5,000  accounts.  This 
being  the  case,  at  the  time  statement  making  be- 
comes necessary,  the  ledgers  may  be  divided  among 
several  clerks,  the  operation  of  making  statements 
be  carried  on  simultaneously,  and  the  statements  con- 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  203 

gregated  afterward ;  thus  affording  a  great  saving  of 
time  and  assuring  the  house  that  all  statements  will 
be  promptly  posted. 

Prompt  mailing  of  statements  means  the  prompt 
collection  of  accounts. 

In  the  quotation  given  from  the  book-keeping 
authority,  it  gives  as  a  reason  for  making  state- 
ments the  fact  that,  "if  mistakes  have  been  made  in 
posting,  the  book-keeper  can  be  notified  by  the  per- 
sons who  receive  the  statements."  This  seems  to  me 
a  very  weak  and  incorrect  proposition.  If  loose  leaf 
books  or  any  books  are  properly  kept,  it  will  not  be 
necessary  for  the  book-keeper  to  be  notified  by  the 
debtor  in  regard  to  his  errors,  for  he  will  have  dis- 
covered those  errors  long  before  the  debtor  receives 
any  statement  of  account ;  if  he  does  not  do  so,  he 
is  not  a  first-class  book-keeper. 

Many  houses  do  not  send  regular  monthly  state- 
ments, but  send  a  statement  to  customers  at.  the 
time  bills  mature.  Wholesale  houses,  particularly, 
sell  goods  on  dating  and  different  time  for  payment, 
and  until  this  bill  becomes  due  there  is  no  real  neces- 
sity for  the  debtor  to  be  reminded  of  his  indebted- 
ness. In  this  case,  the  books  are  run  through  at 
frequent  intervals,  or  a  tickler  is  kept  by  the  bill 
clerk  or  book-keeper  showing  the  due  date  of  dif- 
ferent bills  and  from  time  to  time  these  statements 
are  made  out;  usually  prefacing  a  draft  sent  at  the 
same  time,  or  shortly  afterward. 

In  receipting  bills  statements,  etc.,  the  word 
"Paid"  is  practically  the  same  as  "Received  Pay- 


204  LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

merit,"  and  is  better  to  use  on  account  of  the  fact 
that  it  is  much  more  quickly  written. 

Statements  should  be  figured  independent  of  the 
ledger  and  checked  back.  When  a  statement  is  com- 
pleted— that  is  the  balance  thereon  ascertained — if 
this  balance  agrees  with  the  balance  called  for  on  the 
debtor's  account  in  the  ledger,  its  correctness  is 
proved  as  far  as  a  transcript  of  the  account  is  con- 
cerned. 


CHAPTER  20. 
THE  BILL  AND  CHARGE  SYSTEM. 

One  of  the  first  departures  from  the  use  of  sewed 
books  was  in  the  adoption  by  a  few  houses  of  what 
is  known  as,  ''The  Bill  and  Charge  System."  It  is  so 
called  from  the  fact  that  it  does  away  with  the  sales 
book  entirely  and  with  the  aid  of  carbon  produces  the 
bill  and  charge  at  the  same  writing.  It  is  used  par- 
ticularly where  the  bill  is  sent  with  the  goods  or 
given  to  customer,  and  it  is  seldom  employed  in 
connection  with  country  salesmen's  orders,  which 
are  usually  entered  upon  a  form  suitable  for  the 
purpose,  the  extensions  carried  out  and  billed  from 
this  form — either  with  pen  or  typewriter — and  the 
original  is  filed  in  its  proper  place  and  forms  a  por- 
tion of  the  book  of  original  entry. 

Usually  with  the  Bill  and  Charge  System,  the 
origmal  writing  is  kept  as  the  charge  and  the  carbon 
is  sent  out  as  the  bill.  After  the  bill  and  charge  is 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  205 

made  the  sheets  are  torn  from  the  pad,  the  charge 
sheets  are  collated  and  arranged  according  to  the 
arrangement  of  the  accounts  in  the  ledgers  and  then 
filed  on  post  binders  provided  for  the  purpose;  they 
are  then  consecutively  numbered  and  are  ready  for 
the  operation  of  posting  the  debit  to  its  proper  ac- 
count. It  is  a  good  plan  to  have  the  same  number 
of  post  binders  for  filing  charge  sheets  as  there  are 
ledgers.  Then  there  will  be  no  confusion  in  the 
posting. 

The  advantages  of  the  Bill  and  Charge  system 
are  readily  seen.  It  does  away  entirely  with  the  re- 
writing of  the  bill  in  the  sales  book  or  copying  in 
the  tissue  book.  It  allows  the  best  arrangement 
of  the  charges  for  posting  purpose,  and  it  also  al- 
lows them  to  be  collated  and  placed  in  several  dif- 
ferent binders  (where  the  business  is  sufficient  to 
warrant  it),  so  that  a  number  of  book-keepers  can 
be  employed  upon  the  posting  at  one  time.  It  is 
an  absolute  preventative  of  the  error  formerly  pos- 
sible of  having  the  charge  and  the  bill  different. 
In  the  Bill  and  Charge  system  if  any  error  what- 
ever is  made  in  the  bill,  it  must  also  (being  a  car- 
bon copy)  be  made  in  the  charge. 

It  is  usual  to  have  the  sheet  for  the  bill  a  different 
color  from  the  charge  sheet ; — this  is  a  matter  en- 
tirely optional  with  the  purchaser.  The  Bill  and 
Charge  system  has  another  advantage,  in  that  it  can 
be  used  at  several  different  points  or  locations  in 
the  store  at  the  same  time  if  such  a  requirement  is 
necessary  and  the  collation  of  the  charges  from  the 


206  LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 

different  departments  made  by  the  proper  person 
before  the  close  of  the  business  day.  The  handling 
of  business  in  this  manner  naturally  suggested  other 
advantageous  changes  of  a  similar  nature.  A  sheet 
shorter  than  the  charge  or  bill  sheet  by  the  width  of 
tjie  money  columns  can  be  introduced  and  the  entry 
made  in  triplicate  instead  of  duplicate,  in  which  case 
the  shorter  form  can  be  used  for  a  delivery  ticket. 
This  idea  has  multiplied  to  such  an  extent  that  it 
has  encouraged  inventive  genious  to  produce  me- 
chanical aids,  and  the  result  has  been  the  invention 
of  "Book  Typewriters."  The  forms  used  are  most 
frequently  printed  in  pads,  wire-stitched  or  gummed 
at  the  left  edge,  forming  practically  a  temporary 
book.  The  "Book  Typewriter"  machines  can  op- 
erate on  the  forms  while  remaining  in  the  pad.  the 
charge  sheets  to  be  transferred  at  convenient  in- 
tervals after  proper  arrangement  in  the  binders  with 
no  danger  of  loss  or  misplacement.  If  it  is  desirable, 
or  necessary  for  the  requirements  of  the  business,  the 
bills  alone  may  be  removed  as  written,  leaving  the 
charge  and  other  forms  remaining  in  the  pad.  Vari- 
ous devices  are  used  by  different  machines  to  keep 
the  sheets  or  forms  in  a  perfectly  rigid  position  and 
in  a  correct  printing  register,  without  permitting 
any  slipping  or  shifting  of  the  forms  with  relation 
to  each  other  or  to  the  carbon,  the  result  being  a 
clear  legible  carbon  copy  or  copies.  Corrections  can 
be  easily  made,  additional  matter  may  be  inserted 
or  if  necessary  the  forms  may  be  re-inserted  {n  the 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  207 

machine,  and  in  as  perfect  register  as  if  printed  at 
one  time. 

The  great  advantage  of  Book  Typewriting  ma- 
chines consists  in  the  large  number  of  copies  they 
are  able  to  produce,  the  number,  of  course,  depending 
upon  the  needs  of  the  business.  In  order  to  give  an 
idea  of  what  can  be  produced  at  one  writing,  we  will 
mention  two  cases : 

"A  large  company  produces  a  series  of  forms, 
which  comprise  the  bill,  the  charge  sheet,  acknowl- 
edgment of  order,  salesman's  record,  original  dupli- 
cate and  triplicate  freight-shipping  tickets,  five  cop- 
ies of  the  order,  and  car  label — thirteen  records, 
taking  in  every  transaction  from  the  order  and  its 
various  copies,  to  and  including  the  car  label.  In 
the  event  the  complete  shipping  tickets  cannot  be 
made  out  at  the  time  of  making  of  order,  the  name, 
address  and  general  information  can  be  put  in  at  the 
time  the  order  is  written,  and  the  shipping  tickets, 
as  also  some  of  the  other  forms  may  be  registered 
in  the  machine  for  completing  details." 

"A  large  electric  light  company  makes  out  the 
order,  acknowledgment  to  the  customer,  bill,  charge- 
sheet,  copy  of  order  for  the  superintendent,  and 
additional  copies  of  the  order  for  different  factory 
departments,  all  in  one  operation.  The  factory  de- 
partments get  merely  the  order  number  and  not  the 
name  and  address  of  the  customer.  The  prices  and 
terms  likewise  do  not  appear  on  the  four  factory 
department  orders.  This  is  accomplished  by  mak- 


208  LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 

ing  up  the  set  of  different  size  blanks  and  different 
size  carbons." 

The  manifolding  power  of  these  machines  make  it 
possible  to  plan  for  as  many  copies  as  the  needs  of 
any  business  will  require.  Aside  from  the  saving 
in  labor,  all  records  are  ready  as  soon  as  the  original 
order  is  completed,  all  are  in  type-written  form  and 
all  will  agree  in  detail  when  the  first  copy  is  checked. 
There  is  a  very  decided  advantage  in  having  all  or- 
ders for  factory  or  shipping  departments  ready  in 
the  shortest  possible  time,  which  is  assured  by  con- 
suming no  more  time  in  making  a  dozen  depart- 
ment orders  than  for  making  the  first  copy. 

The  use  of  the  bill  and  charge  system  makes  the 
entry  clerk  also  the  bill  clerk,  and  where  the  number 
of  copies  are  increased,  naturally  increases  the  ca- 
pacity of  the  one  operative  indefinitely. 

Large  retail'  stores  may  in  this  manner  keep  what 
is  termed  a  "detail  sheet"  for  each  customer  to 
which  the  amounts  purchased  are  added  from  day 
to  day,  all  of  them  being  closely  itemized,  as  is  de- 
scribed in  the  Chapter  on  "Loose  Leaf  in  the  Retail 
Business."  At  the  end  of  the  month  the  entire  pur- 
chase of  the  month  for  one  account  is  posted  in  one 
item  to  that  account.  The  detail  sheets  in  this  case 
ars  usually  arranged  in  the  indexing  form  adopted 
for  the  ledgers  and  are  filed  in  the  binders  monthlv. 
This  does  away  entirelv  with  the  necessity  of  item- 
izing accounts  on  the  ledger,  and  at  the  same  time 
furnishes  a  ready  and  immediate  reference  for  the 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  209 

book-keeper   in   case   an   itemized   statement   of   ac- 
count is  required. 

"THE   MEMO.   AND   CREDIT   SYSTEM." 

In  connection  with  the  bill  and  charge  system,  it 
is  quite  proper  that  I  should  mention  what  might 
be  termed  with  accuracy,  "The  Memo,  and  Credit 
System."  The  plan  is  exactly  similar,  with  the  ex- 
ception that  the  "Memo."  and  the  "Credit"  should 
be  of  a  different  colored  paper  than  either  the  bill 
or  charge;  this  marks  the  proper  pad  at  once  and 
saves  any  errors.  This  system  would  of  course  be 
used  for  such  memorandum  credits  as  are  given  to 
customers  on  account  of  returned  goods,  rebates, 
damages  or  other  claims,  and  they  are  handled  in 
exactly  the  same  manner;  the  memo,  is  sent  to  the 
customer 'and  the  credit  is  filed  in  the  post  binder 
of  appropriate  size,  distributed  properly  according  to 
the  book-keeping  system,  posted  separately  to  the 
credit  of  the  different  accounts  and  at  the  close  of 
the  month  the  entire  amount  of  each  series  debited 
to  the  proper  accounts. 

It  is  usual  to  have  the  memo,  and  credit  sheets 
somewhat  smaller  than  the  ordinary  bill  and  charge, 
and  the  size  of  the  binder  can  easily  be  adapted  to 
any  size  sheet  selected.  The  arrangement  of  differ- 
ent forms  can  be  made  to  suit  the  purchaser;  some- 
times the  bill  precedes  the  charge  and  at  other  times 
the  charge  precedes  the  bill.  It  does  not  make  any 
difference  how  many  different  forms  are  handled 
together,  but  it  is  usual  to  have  each  of  the  differ- 
ent forms  a  different  color  and  absolutely  necessary 


210  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

that  they  shall  be  of  the  same  size  or  approximate- 
ly so.  Of  course,  where  it  is  desirable  for  the  many 
columns  to  be  omitted  on  a  form,  it  could  be  made 
shorter  to  effect  this.  These  different  forms  are  of 
course  printed  separately  in  exact  register  and  are 
gathered  afterwards  and  bound  as  may  be  required, 
so  that  the  writing  on  the  top  form  of  this  system 
is  transferred  upon  all  of  the  subsequent  forms  mak- 
ing up  the  set. 

There  is  no  question  as  to  the  economy  of  time 
secured  through  the  use  of  the  bill  and  charge  sys- 
tem, and  it  can  be  adapted  as  required  to  many  dif- 
ferent departments  of  any  business.  The  best  way 
to  introduce  the  bill  and  charge  system  in  your 
business  is,  to  carefully  go  over  the  ground  and 
ascertain  how  many  copies  of  an  original  you  are 
likely  to  require  in  your  business,  and  when  this 
matter  is  perfectly  clear  in  your  mind,  you  can  then 
go  forward  with  your  order  and  meet  with  the  most 
satisfactory  results. 

The  post  binders  for  regular  use  are  canvas  with 
leather  corners,  6-inch  solid  post  of  various  patents 
to  admit  of  speed  in  handling,  while  the  transfer 
binders  are  lighter  weight,  plain  canvas  or  cloth, 
solid  6-inch  post  with  a  simple  screw  to  hold  the 
sheets  in  place.  Of  course,  the  transfers  are  not  in 
regular  use  and  need  not  be  either  as  heavy  or  ex- 
pensive. The  transfers  are  used  for  filing  away  per- 
manently the  past  business. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  211 

CHAPTER  21. 

ODDS  AND  ENDS— HOW  TO  SAVE  MONEY 

IN  BUSINESS— LONG  WAY  AND  SHORT 

WAY— VARIOUS  SUGGESTIONS. 

In  this  chapter  I  will  deal  with  such  items  of  in- 
terest as  may  not  have  been  mentioned  in  previous 
chapters,  not  with  any  idea  of  their  continuity,  but 
feeling  that  possibly  they  may  be  of  some  assistance 
to  the  operator  or  offer  some  suggestions  to  the 
proprietor  which  will  be  found  valuable. 


Legality  of  Loose  Leaf  Ledgers.  There  is 
a  question  in  the  minds  of  some  skeptical  peo- 
ple in  regard  to  the  legality  of  loose-leaf  ledgers. 
Those  who  are  well  posted  do  not  take  this  matter 
into  consideration,  for  the  reason  that  they  know 
that  the  ledger  is  not  the  book  of  original  entry, 
but  some  timid  pople  think  that  an  account  in  order 
to  be  proven  must  be  within  a  sewed  book.  In 
answer  to  such,  I  quote  the  opinion  of  one  of  the 
largest  firms  of  corporations  lawyers  in  the  city  of 
Chicago — a  part  of  their  statement  is  as  follows : 

"The  ledger  is  not  in  general  a  book  of  original 
entries  and  is  not  permissable  in  evidence  as  prov- 
ing the  transactions  therein  recorded,  except  in 
cases  of  co-partnership  as  between  parties,  and  in 
cases  of  corporations  as  between  members.  The 


212  LOOSE    LEAP    BOOK-KEEPING. 

book  of  original  entries  which  is  also  (as  we  under- 
stand it)  a  part  of  the  loose  leaf  system  would,  we 
think,  be  treated  in  the  same  manner  as  any  book 
of  original  entries.  Such  a  book  is  admissable  in 
evidence  on  the  ground  that  it  constitutes  one  of 
the  circumstances  surrounding  the  sales  arid  trans- 
actions referred  to,  and  it  has  never  (so  far  as  we 
know)  been  held  material  what  the  form  of  the 
book  was.  The  fact  that  the  leaves  are  separable 
would  not,  we  thing  affect  the  efficacy  of  the  book 
as  a  writing  for  evidence." 

Although  the  question,  of  the  legality  of  loose  leaf 
ledgers  does  not  come  up  very  often  at  present, 
yet  once  in  a  while  some  timid  "would-be"  pur- 
chaser wants  an  opinion  on  this  subject. 


Weight  of  Paper.  Some  customers  desire  a 
very  heavy  weight  of  paper  for  use  in  their  loose 
leaf  ledgers,  although  as  a  rule  the  i7-28-—361t)  is 
used.  Of  course,  a  heavier  paper  than  this  can  be 
secured,  but  it  is  a  very  unsatisfactory  thing  inas- 
much as  the  leaves  being  so  much  thicker  they  less- 
en the  capacity  of  any  binder  about  one-quarter,  and 
the  weight  or  bulk  of  paper  does  not,  by  any  means, 
contribute  to  its  strength;  the  body  strength  and 
tearing  qualities  are  just  as  good  in  the  light  weight 
stock  as  they  are  in  the  heavy. 


Dry  Goods  House  Where  Calling  and  Billing 
is  Done.  The  loose  leaf  arrangement  for  the  pur- 
pose of  record  where  the  goods  are  called — as  is 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  213 

done  in  many  cases  in  Dry  Goods  and  Millinery  es- 
tablishments— is  absolutely  without  an  equal.  The 
billers  by  the  use  of  the  bill  and  charge  system  also 
perform  the  duties  of  the  entry  clerk,  and  the  rec- 
ords are  kept  continuous.  The  system  as  handled 
in  most  houses  with  sewed  sales  book  is,  to  have 
the  biller  and  charger  enter  up  their  work  simultan- 
eously and  balance  afterward,  each  making  their 
own  extensions.  By  the  loose  leaf  system  this  could 
be  easily  accomplished,  except  that  the  entry  and 
charge  would  be  made  by  the  same  person,  after- 
ward to  be  separated  and  the  extensions  carried 
out  by  the  extender,  or  two  extenders  if  necessary, 
who  might  balance  against  each  other  and  who  could 
handle  the  work  of  several  billers.  There  is  no  ques- 
tion that  where  a  number  were  employed  in  this 
manner,  there  would  be  an  economy  of  help  by  the 
use  of  the  loose  leaf  system,  even  though  the  carbon 
idea  might  not  be  desirable,  there  would  still  be  no 
reason  why  the  items  could  not  be  entered  on  loose 
leaf  sheets,  going  into  the  binder  afterward ;  in  which 
case,  the  particular  advantage  would  be  that  the 
charges  could  be  collated  and  arranged  alphabetical- 
ly in  such  a  manner  to  facilitate  their  posting  and 
thereby  save  the  book-keepers  much  time  and  trou- 
ble, whereas  under  the  present  existing  arrangement 
with  sewed  books,  it  is  absolutely  impossible  for  the 
caller  to  collate  his  orders  to  produce  a  harmonious 
and  satisfactory  arrangement  for  the  uses  of  the 
book-keeper. 


214  LOOSE   LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

Handling  a  L/arge  Number  of  Books.  Some 
houses  that  have  a  large  number  of  ledgers,  have  a 
mpvable  truck-rack,  upon  which  all  the  necessary 
books  are  arranged  and  which  can  be  rolled  into  the 
vault  nightly; — this  saves  a  considerable  amount  of 
carrying. 


Best  Service.  To  secure  the  best  service  from 
a  system  of  loose  leaf  books,  you  should  have  your 
business  so  arranged  as  to  be  in  perfect  harmony 
with  that  system.  In  case  there  are  rugged  places, 
such  as  an  improper  system  in  the  billing  and 
charging  department,  it  cannot  be  expected  that  the 
book-keeping  department  will  run  as  smoothly  as  it 
should.  This,  however,  is  true  of  any  character  of 
books.  There  should  be  perfect  harmony  in  all  de- 
partments of  business,  the  work  of  one  department 
dove-tailing  into  the  work  of  another  department 
like  the  various  parts  of  an  intricate  machine.  Take 
such  a  machine  for  example  and  let  one  part  fail  to 
perform  its  duty,  and  it  affects  the  entire  machine, 
often  causing  its  operations  to  cease;  thus  it  is  in 
business,  when  system  is  attempted  it  should  not  be 
confined  simply  to  the  counting  room. 


How  to  Make  Money  in  Business.  Passing 
without  comment  the  push  and  enterprise  necessary, 
the  various  requisites  of  location,  character  of  busi- 
ness and  advertising,  I  will  simply  say  a  few  words 
on  the  points  which  come  within  the  province  of 
this  book.  In  manufacturing,  close  cost  account- 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  215 

ing  is  necessary ;  in  merchandising,  close  purchasing. 
There  can  be  no  profit  in  paying  small  wages  and 
salaries,  if  it  is  done  at  the  expense  of  the  service. 
Good  wages  produce  good  results  and  competent 
employes  are  worth  their  wage ;  consequently  the 
lowest  wage  practicable  should  be  paid  for  abso- 
lutely competent  labor  and  no  labor  employed  at 
all  that  is  careless,  shiftless  or  incompetent  In 
order  to  add  to  the  profits  of  the  business,  the  intro- 
duction of  such  improved  systems  in  different  parts 
of  the  work  as  may  further  the  interests  of  the  house 
and  allow  competent  employes  to  vastly  increase 
their  productive  powers  is  unquestionably  one  of 
the  best  ways  of  making  money  known  to  business 
men.  No  element  of  expense  should  be  more  care- 
fully looked  after  than  the  pay-roll  and  salary  list. 
Competency  should  be  rewarded  by  advances,  and 
incompetency  should  be  summarily  dealt  with. 
Manufacturers  all  know  that  improvements  in  ma- 
chinery where  they  can  get  the  result  of  two  or  three 
men's  work  Jrom  one  man's  time  is  a  very  profitable 
investment  and  the  same  principle  holds  good  in  the 
accounting  department  of  any  manufacturing  or  mer- 
cantile institution. 


Bindings.  In  selecting  bindings  for  loose  leaf 
books,  it  is  always  well  for  the  purchaser  to  remem- 
ber that  one  of  the  principal  features  of  loose  leaf 
accounting  is,  the  fact  that  the  binders  are  supposed 
to  outlast  many  thousand  leaves.  If  false  economy 
is  shown  in  the  purchase  of  binders  and  the  cheaper 


216  LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 

grades  of  binding  chosen,  it  will  not  carry  out  the 
loose  leaf  theory  and  will  not  prove  entirely  satis- 
factory. Most  dealers  in  loose  leaf  books  sell  sev- 
eral grades  of  binding  especially  for  transfer  bind- 
ers, but  while  the  higher  grade  binders  cost  a  little 
more,  they  are  certainly  the  ones  to  purchase.  The 
bindings  usually  offered  are  one-half  corduroy  and 
one-half  leather,  full  leather,  one-half  canvas  and 
one-half  leather,  one-half  cloth  and  one-half  leather, 
full  cloth  and  full  canvas, — the  higher  grades  being 
mentioned  first  and  the  one  most  used  at  the  pres- 
ent writing  being  one-half  corduroy  and  one-half 
leather. 


Rulings  to  Avoid  Carrying  Forward.  A  very 
clever  arrangement  for  large  books  with  a  great 
number  of  columns  to  avoid  carrying  forward  the 
totals,  is  to  have  the  footing  line  introduced  at  the 
top  of  every  other  page  instead  of  at  the  bottom, 
then  by  a  slight  change  in  the  punch  holes  of  the 
form  (the  sheets  all  being  of  the  same  size)  the  top 
footing  line  projects  one-half  inch  above  the  page 
and  the  bottom  footing  line  projects  one-half  inch 
below  the  page ;  the  first  page  is  footed  up  and  the 
totals  placed  at  the  top  instead  of  at  the  bottom; 
when  the  next  leaf  is  turned,  the  totals  of  the  pre- 
ceding leaf  are -exposed  and  this  leaf  is  footed  down, 
the  totals  placed  at  the  bottom ;  when  the  next  leaf 
is  turned,  these  totals  are  exposed  and  footed  up — 
and  so  on.  It  will  be  seen  that  by  this  plan  there 
are  absolutely  no  chances  of  error  in  carrying 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  217 

forward  totals,  as  they  are  only  entered  once  in  their 
proper  place. 


Leaf  for  the  Physician's  Ledger.  A  very  clever 
leaf  for  the  physician's  ledger  has  been  evolved, 
(See  Plate  No.  35)  which  saves  him  a  large  amount 
of  trouble  and  worry  in  keeping  his  books  It  con- 
sists of  the  heading  for  the  name  of  the  patient, 
address,  etc.,  and  is  followed  by  a  ruling  giving  the 
month  and  year,  then  in  very  narrow  columns  each 
day  of  the  month;  this  is  followed  by  the  credit  of 
the  year,  month,  date  and  cash  payment.  To  use  this 
form  a  physician  need  only  have  his  memorandum 
book,  keeping  account  of  his  visits,  office  consulta- 
tions, operations,  medicine  furnished,  etc.,  and  at 
night  he  can  check  into  the  proper  column  the  visits 
by  a  little  cross  (X),  office  consultation  by  an  "O" 
and  describe  such  other  charges  as  may  be  necessary 
through  the  entire  line.  At  the  end  of  the  month  it 
is  but  little  trouble  to  count  up  the  number  of 
visits  and  carry  into  the  proper  debit  column,  and 
the  same  for  office  consultations  and  other  charges. 
With  a  book  of  this  character  made  in  loose  leaf, 
a  physician  is  kept  constantly  in  touch  with  such 
patients  as  have  not  paid  their  bills,  statements  are 
easily  furnished  and  the  exact  data  is  obtainable 
with  the  least  trouble.  If  desired,  a  suspense  ledger 
can  be  maintained  for  such  accounts  as  are  slow  and 
uncertain  by  using  this  admirable  plan 


218 


LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 


10 
0 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  219 

Dentist's   Ledger.      Similar   to   Physician's   would 
be  useful. 


Attorney's  Docket.  A  very  useful  loose  leaf 
book  for  Attorney's  use  is  a  "Docket  Form,"  size 
9  or  91/9xi2,  the  simplest  being  headed: 

Court,  General  No.,  File  No.,  vs.,  Judge,  Action, 
Damages,  Opposing  Counsel,  We  Represent,  Our 
Correspondent. 

A  more  intricate  form  is  as  follows : 

INDEX   SHEET  NO 

, PLAINTIFF 

ADDRESS 

vs. 

DEFENDANT 

ADDRESS 

INDIVIDUAL    PLAINTIFFS    &    ADDRESSES 
i 

2 

3 

ATTORNEYS  REPRESENTING    PLAINTIFFS 

RECEIVER  OF  ASSIGNEE 
Date  ORDERS 

On  left-hand  side  of  division  line 

On  right-hand  side  of  division  line  as  follows : 

CIRCUIT  COURT        INDEX.  .PAGE.  .LINE. . 

LAW 

CHANCERY          GENERAL  COURT  NO. 


220  LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 

Nature  of  action.      Term  No.      Changed.     Changed 
VAULT  NO.  Appellate  Court  No. 

General  Calendar 
JUDGE 

JUSTICE  NUMBER        Name  of  Bondsman 

ADDRESS. 

INDIVIDUAL  DEFENDANTS  &  ADDRESSES 

WHEN  SERVED 
i 

2. 

3 

ATTORNEYS   REPRESENTING    DEFEND'TS 

ATTORNEYS 
Date  ORDERS 


A  Cash  Journal.  I  will  herewith  give  the  form 
of  a  Cash  Jorunal  used  by  a  large  Coffee  &  Rubber 
Company  (See  Plate  No.  36).  A  little  variation  of 
the  form  would  make  it  suitable  for  any  of  the 
various  incorporated  companies  of  whatever  nature. 
The  form  is  as  follows : 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  221 

CASH  JOURNAL. 

Sundry   Account ....  Cash ....  Plantation Exp. .  . 

Date Name Memo Check 

Dr.       Cr.       Dr.       Cr.       Dr.       Cr. 
The  size  of  this  sheet  is  11x15. 

Hotel  Guest  Ledger.  I  will  give  the  form 
used  by  one  of  the  largest  Chicago  hotels,  in  loose 
leaf  guest  ledger.  The  heading  is  the  name  of  the 
hotel.  The  columns  are  as  follows : 

Room  No. 

Name 

(Blank  column  about  I  inch  wide) 

Date 

Board 

Cash  Advanced 

CAFE  (with  3  columns  of) 
Check  No Amount 

Extra  Meals 

'Phone 

Service 

Billiards 

Laundry 

Livery 

BAR 
Checks Amount 

SUNDRIES 

Amount 

Total  Dr. 
(Division  line) 

Date 

Credits 

Balance 


222  LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 

«r 

Underneath  the  name  column  after  leaving  room 
for  name  of  guests  is  arrival,  departure  and  rate. 
The  ruling  is  made  so  that  three  or  six  guests  can 
have  their  accounts  on  the  same  page.  Of  course, 
the  self-indexing  features  are  used  in  this  ledger, 
but  they  cannot  be  as  closely  indexed  as  if  each 
guest  had  a  separate  leaf.  They  can,  however,  be 
indexed  close  enough  for  all  purposes,  as  transient 
accounts  do  not  hold  over  long.  The  size  of  this 
ledger  leaf  is  15^x24.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to 
use  a  small  leaf  for  this  purpose,  and  instead  of  ex- 
tending the  charges  laterally,  bring  them  down 
horizontally,  with  the  debits  coming  first  and  the 
credits  following.  By  using  this  arrangement  a 
smaller  guest  ledger  could  be  used  than  in  any  other 
way. 


Perpetual  Invoice  Filing  Book.  The  Perpetual 
Invoice  Filing  book  is  used  by  a  number  of  firms 
with  a  page  16x13,  the  leaves  being  made  of  manila 
and  used  in  the  regular  sectional  post  binder.  It 
is  usual  in  using  this  book  to  have  money  columns 
at  the  right-hand  side  of  the  leaf  wherein  the  amount 
of  the  bills  as  pasted  in  the  invoice  book  can  be 
extended  and  carried  forward.  In  order  to  make  up 
for  the  added  thickness  of  the  bills  pasted  within  the 
book,  a  series  of  card-board  strips  is  introduced 
now  and  then,  punched  to  accord  with  the  size 
of  the  leaf.  There  are  firms  who  find  it  perfectly 
satisfactory  to  use  this  Perpetual  Invoice  file  as  a 
purchase  record  and  post  direct  from  it,  either  in- 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  223 

dividual  bills  into  a  purchase  ledger  and  the  amount 
of  the  month's  bills  debited  to  the  proper  account, 
or  in  toto  debit  Merchandise,  and  credit  Accounts 
Payable  account. 

This  is  the  same  plan  as  the  old  skeleton  book 
for  pasting  away  invoices  except  that  on  the  loose 
leaf  plan  a  sheet  or  more  may  be  devoted  to  each 
creditor  or  each  letter  of  the  alphabet  as  may  be 
desired  and  an  absolute  alphabetical  or  other  ar- 
rangement produced  which  gives  a  perfect  self-in- 
dexing effect. 


A  Short  Leaf.  It  will  be  very  evident  to  those 
who  have  studied  the  loose  leaf  system  and  become 
familiar  with  it  through  this  book,  that  a  much 
shorter  leaf  can  be  used  than  in  the  old-style  sewed 
books.  It  need  be  but  one-half  or  two-thirds  the 
depth  and  not  have  more  capacity,  from  the  fact  that 
one  account  can  be  extended  to  both  sides  of  a  leaf 
and  also  as  many  leaves  added,  from  time  to  time, 
as  the  account  requires.  It  is  best  to  adopt  a  leaf 
which  will  properly  control  the  larger  accounts,  giv- 
ing space  for  the  average  number  of  entries  per 
month  on  one  side.  Of  course,  there  might  be  one 
or  two  accounts  running  over,  but  this  would  not 
be  of  sufficient  importance  to  demand  an  extra 
depth  of  leaf  for  all  of  them.  In  loose  leaf  book- 
keeping the  short  account  is  considered  in  the  pur- 
chase of  ledgers,  while  in  the  old-style  sewed  books 
the  long  account  had  to  be  considered  first  in  order 
to  save  transfers. 


224 


LOOSE   LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING. 


i, 

.U 

4 


ft 


J! 


LOOSE  LEAP  BOOK-KEEPING.  225 

Card  Index.  It  is  very  desirable  for  firms  using 
two  or  more  ledgers  to  keep  a  card  index  of  their 
customers  and  to  regulate  the  transfers  through 
this  index.  In  order  to  do  this,  a  card  should  be 
prepared  giving  whatever  information  is  necessary 
for  the  credit  man,  and  below  it,  with  proper  rul- 
ings, the  location  of  the  account.  Where  this  plan 
is  used,  each  customer's  name  appears  upon  a  sepa- 
rate card  properly  indexed,  and  it  should  be  com- 
menced by  having  cards  made  for  every  customer's 
account  in  each  ledger,  and  then  as  new  accounts 
were  opened,  new  cards  should  be  made  for  these 
accounts,  although  the  customers  might  be  old.  It 
will  be  readily  seen  by  closely  following  this  plan, 
the  credit  man  can  ascertain  whether  the  customer 
has  an  account  without  referring  to  the  ledgers, 
and  will  be  able  to  ascertain  also  from  the  card 
whether  this  account  is  open  and  in  the  current 
ledger,  or  closed  and  in  the  transfer  ledger.  In 
handling  transfers  from  the  current  ledgers,  the 
date  of  transfer  should  be  noted  on  the  card,  and 
where  the  account  is  re-introduced  into  the  current 
ledger,  it  should  be  noted  on  the  card  in  its  proper 
column.  After  this  system  is  inaugurated  it  does 
not  require  very  much  time  and  works  very  satis- 
factorily. It  is,  of  course,  unnecessary  in  a  small 
business.  I  give  herewith  a  sample  of  the  card  with 
the  matter  and  ruling  used  by  a  large  wholesale 
house.  (See  Plate  No.  39) 


226 


LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 


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LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  227 

Club  Ledger.  On  account  of  the  large  number 
of  small  charges  made  to  club  members,  it  is  difficult 
to  keep  a  club  record  without  a  considerable  amount 
of  extra  writing.  A  very  clever  ledger  arrangement 
giving  in  the  posting  a  distribution  of  the  charges 
is  that  adopted  by  the  Union  League,  of  Philadel- 
phia. We  herewith  give  the  headings  of  the  differ- 
ent columns ;  the  page  heading  being  as  usual  with 
the  sheet  number,  name  and  address.  Beginning  at 
the  left-hand,  the  columns  read :  Date,  Restaurant, 
Lodging,  Billiards,  Wardrobe,  Letter-Box,  Bowling 
Playing  Cards,  Ping  Pong,  History,  Annual  Tax, 
Telephone,  Coupe,  Sundries,  Total  Debit,  Credit, 
Balance,  Date. 


Foreign  Shipment  Register.  I  reproduce  (Plate 
No.  39)  the  rulings  of  a  foreign  shipment  register 
as  required  by  large  firms  doing  a  great  deal  of  ex- 
porting. As  all  of  the  information  of  each  shipment 
is  entered  hereon  the  record  is  very  complete  and 
satisfactorv. 


Bond  Register.  Whenever  a  corporation  is- 
sues and  sells  its  bonds  it  is  necessary  to  keep  a  care- 
ful and  accurate  and  record  of  the  holders  of  those 
bonds,  interest  paid  thereon,  etc.,  etc.  A  form  for 
this  purpose  (somewhat  similar  to  a  stock  ledger)  is 
given  herewith,  Plate  No.  38. 


The  Test  of  Time.  When  loose  leaf  book-keep- 
ing has  been  in  general  use  for  ten  or  twenty  years 
its  great  advantage  will  not  have  to  be  explained.  A 


228 


LOOSE   LEAP   BOOK-KEEPING. 


LOOSE    LEAF    BOOK-KEEPING.  229 

firm  puts  in  a  system  of  loose  leaf  books  now  and 
after  using  them  for  ten  years  requires  for  some 
special  purpose  the  account  of  "Johnson,  Robinson 
&  Co.,"  will  find  the  entire  ten  years'  business  all 
recorded  and  the  record  in  one  book  which  can  be 
easily  found.  It  may  be  that  this  record  was  all  upon 
one  sheet,  or  it  may  be  that  it  covered  200  sheets. 
In  either  case  the  result  is  the  same.  If  more  than 
one  sheet  has  been  used  the  leaves  follow  each  other 
consecutively  both  chronologically  and  by  Sheet 
number,  and  are  found  by  reference  to  the  proper 
division;  whatever  plan  of  indexing  is  adopted. 


Book-keeping  for  Newspapers.  The  loose  leaf 
plan  has  been  found  especially  desirable  for  newspa- 
pers in  their  general  books  and  some  of  their  special 
books.  For  subscriptions  most  of  the  newspapers 
use  the  card  system,  and  find  it  very  satisfactory. 
For  an  advertising  ledger  the  interchangeable  leaf  is 
most  satisfactory.  A  very  good  form'  Name  and 
Address  with  Sheet  No.  for  the  heading  with  the 
name  of  the  newspaper.  The  columns  are  ruled  as 
follows :  Date,  Description,  Kind,  Lines,  Times, 
Rate,  Folio,  Balance,  Credit,  Folio,  Date,  Remarks. 
The  Chicago  Daily  News  leaf  reproduced  (Plate  No. 
41)  is  as  follows :  Name  of  Paper.  Name,  Address, 
Sheet  No.  in  the  heading.  Ruled,  Date,  Folio,  14  J4 
inch  cols.,  blank  heading,  Kind,  Lines,  Times,  Rate, 
Amount.  Division  line  Credit,  Date,  Item,  Folio, 
Amount. 


230 


LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 


A  Peculiar  Ledger.  I  reproduce  Plate  No.  43, 
a  peculiar  ruling  for  a  ledger  used  by  the  Carter 
White  Lead  Co.,  of  Chicago.  There  is  probably  not 
another  like  it  in  the  world,  but  it  is  adapted  to  their 
business,  and  by  the  use  of  the  loose  leaf  books  they 
can  meet  these  peculiar  requirements.  They  use  the 
Town  and  State  indexing  scheme,  and  their  heading 
is  as  follows :  Name  of  Company.  Town,  State, 

Name,   Rating,   Shipped  via The  ruling  is  as 

follows:  Date,  Draft,  Bank,  Order,  Price,  Terms, 
Pounds  (unit  ruled)  Check  col.,  W.  H.,  Date,  Folio, 
Debit,  Check.  Division  line.  -  Date,  Folio,  Invoice, 
Credits,  Balance. 


Profit  and  Loss  Register.  Some  firms  find  it 
very  convenient  to  keep  a  profit  and  loss  register  a 
form  of  ruling  of  which  we  give  Plate  No.  44.  The 
ruling  is  simple.  The  heading  is  simply  the  name 
of  the  book  and  firm.  The  columns  are  as  follows : 
Name,  Folio,  Dr.  Division  line,  Cr.,  Date,  Remarks. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  231- 

Department  Sales.  Large  firms  find  it  conven- 
ient to  keep  a  perfect  record  of  Department  Sales, 
especially  those  engaged  in  the  mail  order  business, 
or  department  stores.  The  form  used  by  Butler 
Bros.,  one  of  the  largest  in  their  line  is  as  follows : 
Department  Sales.  New  York,  Dr.  &  Cr.  Chicago, 
Dr.  &  Cr.  St.  Louis,  Dr.  &  Cr.  Totals,  Dr.  &  Cr. 
Down  the  lower  left-hand  margin  are  recorded  the 
different  departments  indicated  by  letter.  This  form 
is  shown  in  Plate  No.  45. 


Real  Estate  Loan  Register.  A  very  useful  rec- 
ord for  trust  companies  and  corporations  loaning 
money  on  real  estate,  is  shown  in  Plate  No.  40.  The 
heading  reads  as  follows :  Name  of  the  Company, 

Real  Estate  Loan  to $ No.  R Date 

of  Paper Time ......   Due Rate 

Insurance   Amt.   $ Expires Time   Ex- 
tended to Taxes   Paid  to Payee 

Address The  ruling  gives  first  "Description 

of  Property,"  then  under  "Principal"  three  columns, 

as    follows  :      When    Paid Payable 

Amount,  and  under  "Interest,"  When  Paid — Payable 
— Amount. 


For  Real  Estate  Firms.  When  a  rental  or  sale 
sheet  is  properly  made  out  and  arranged  for  loose 
leaf  binders  there  is  no  better  way  of  keeping  such 
records.  The  agent  does  not  require  to  keep  the 
description  of  the  premises  current  after  they  are 
rented  or  sold,  and  it  is  much  more  desirable  to 


232 


LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 


in  < 

4-  03 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  233 

have  them  so  that  they  can  be  easily  eliminated. 
These  records  can  be  indexed  by  streets,  or  by  own- 
ers alphabetically  as  preferred. 


Opening  a  Transfer  Binder.  The  best  way  to 
open  the  sectional  post  transfer  binder  is  to  unlock, 
or  loosen,  the  locking  mechanism,  raise  the  cover 
to  the  top  of  the  posts,  and  relock  it.  This  takes  the 
weight  of  the  cover  from  the  leaves,  and  renders 
insertion  or  removal  of  leaves  much  easier  to  ac- 
complish. After  you  have  finished  you  can  release 
the  cover,  press  it  tightly  upon  the  leaves,  and  relock. 


Private  Locks.  Whenever  it  is  deemed  necessary 
for  a  binder  to  have  a  special  lock,  such  device  can 
be  obtained  with  Yale  Blocks,  securing  the  book,  if 
:Us  sired,  so  that  it  cannot  be  opened  for  inspection. 
These  locks  are  sometimes  used  for  General  ledgers, 
Private  ledgers,  Records  of  corporation  proceedings, 
and  books  of  private  information. 


Photographers — Professional  and  Amateur.  The 
test  way  in  the  world  to  keep  a  record  of  photo- 
graphic plates  is  by  taking  an  extra  print  and  past- 
ing it  upon  a  properly  shaped  and  sized  page  loose 
leaf  and  carrying  it  in  a  binder  indexed  according 
to  subjects,  persons  or  chronologically.  Narrow 
strips  can  be  introduced  at  the  binding  edge  to  keep 
the  book  uniform.  Whenever  a  record  of  this  kind 
is  kept- of  prints  it  is  easy  to  find  the  negative  with- 
out looking  over  a  large  stock  of  plates,  as  they  are 
.all  placed  in  numerical  order  and  the  number  of  the 


234 


LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 


Plate  No.  47. 


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This  form  to  be  attached  to  ever;  order,  and  not  to  be  detached  nntil  bill  has  been  made.  If  for 
any  reason  this  order  is  not  filled,  return  this  sheet  to  mailing  division  with  notations  thereon,  show 
ing  what  action  has  been  taken.  All  of  these  sheets  must  be  accounted  for,  whether  orders  are  filled 
or  not,  and  must  not  be  detached. 

ORIGINAL. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING.  235 

negative  is  given  upon  the  page  whereon  the  print 
is  mounted.  In  cases  where  a  negative  has  been  lost 
or  destroyed  it  would  be  possible  to  secure  another 
from  the  print.  For  amateurs  it  forms  a  very  inter- 
esting book  of  reference,  and  contains  careful  repro- 
ductions of  their  work. 


Wholesale  Order  Form.  When  orders  are  incorrect- 
ly divided  in  wholesale  houses  it  is  very  important  that 
they  do  not  become  sidetracked,  and  that  they  are 
completed  and  turned  back  to  the  billing  depart- 
ment at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  It  is  frequently 
the  case  that  the  entire  order  cannot  be  filled  and 
it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  mailing  depart- 
ment be  notified  at  once,  so  that  a  letter,  explaining 
cause  of  delay  or  incomplete  order  may  be  at  once 
transmitted.  Plate  No.  48  shows  an  admirable  ar- 
rangement for  this  purpose,  used  by  one  of  the  large 
ir't.  Louis  wholesale  houses.  It  is  written  in  triplicate 
and  each  of  the  sheets  is  of  a  different  color.  All  are 
attached  to  the  order  and  go  with  it  through  the  house 
until  it  reaches  the  billing  department,  unless  for  any 
reason  the  order  cannot  be  filled,  in  which  case,  the 
second  form  goes  to  the  mailing  division  with  reasons. 
After  the  billing  is  done  the  second  form  goes  with 
the  bill  to  the  mailing  division,  the  third  form  goes  to 
the  Sales  department  so  that  proper  credit  may  be 
given  salesman  or  source  of  order  and  the  original 
goes  with  the  charge  to  the  accounting  department 
It  is  never  difficult  to  trace  an  order  with  this  system. 


236  LOOSE   LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 

The  Tumble'  Form.  It  is  a  well  known  fact  that 
it  is  much  easier  to  post  on  the  right  hand  side  of  the 
ledger  than  upon  the  left  hand.  Why,  I  know  not, 
but  book-keepers  like  the  work  less  on  the  left 
hand  side.  By  the  use  of  what  is  known  as  "the 
tumble  form,"  which  means  that  the  heading  is  placed 
on  the  opposite  end  of  the  sheet,  so  that  it  can  be 
turned  over  and  reinserted  "right  hai)d  up,"  an  ac- 
count can  always  be  kept  on  the  right  hand  side  of 
the  ledger.  This  necessitates  taking  the  leaf  out  of 
the  binder,  turning  it  end  for  end,  and  reinserting. 
It  is  rather  awkward  in  the  transfer,  as,  in  a  continu- 
ous account  one  page  would  read  down  and  the  next 
one  up,  but  where  there  is  very  little  reference  to 
closed  accounts  it  is  preferred.  -  It  can  only  be  ac- 
complished by  the  aid  of  interchangeable  leaves. 


Safe  Guard  in  Loose  Leaf.  By  getting  up  the 
regular  safe-guard  leaf  for  loose  leaf  binder  and  be- 
ginning each  series  by  the  months  consecutively  it 
makes  a  Perpetual  Safe  Guard  Ledger  and  while  it 
does  not  save  transferring  it  distributes  the  work 
through  the  year.  The  new  accounts  opened  in  Jan- 
uary would  begin  on  leaf  with  January  first  column 
while  those  opened  in  February  would  begin  on  leaf 
svith  Februarv  first  column  and  so  on. 


Uses  of  Loose  Leaf  Books.  In  conclusion  I 
would  add  that  Loose  Leaf  books  may  be  profitably 
substituted  in  ever  cas  where  sewed  books  are 
now  in  use. 


LOOSE  LEAF  BOOK-KEEPING. 


237 


TOPICAL    INDEX 


Page 

Abreviated    States    58 

Accounts    Payable    158 

Accounts    Receivable    13 

Account     Sales     95 

Accounting   Systems    ft 

Account  Years  in  Same  Place  18 
Advantages        of        Account 

Number     54 

Advantages,    Loose    Leaf    —  10 

Adding    Machines    45-115 

Advertising   Record    157 

Agents'     Reports     182 

Appropriation    Register    193 

Assorting    Cash    Items     84 

Attorney's    Docket    219 

Atorney's  Ledger   158-159 

Average    Balance   Book    121 

Back   Accounts    to   Look   Up.  42 

Back    Order    Binder    184 

Baggage   Account    Books    183 

Balancing     17-19-46 

Balance    Book,    Bank    Form.. 121 

Balancing    Cash    83 

Balance    Column 26 

Banks 114 

Benefit   Associations    134 

Best    Book-keeping    63-214 

Bill  and   Charge   System 205 

Bills    Payable   Record    ....149-158 
Bills    Receivable    Record.  .149-158 

Billing    System    86 

Bindings     215 

Binder    Limit     24 

Binders    15 

Bond    Record    181-184-227 

Bond   Record   Form    226 

Book-keepers'    Friend   46 

Book    Typewriters    129-206 

Bottling    Department    180 

Box  Record  Form   111-112 

Brewery     Books     179 

Bridge  Records    183 

Building   and    Loan,    Register 

Form    100-103 

Building   Record    183 

Car    Accounting    182 

Car    Service    Records    182 

Card  Index  Alphabetical   ..59-226 

Care  of  Index  Leaves 61 

Cash    Book     66-76-174-184 

Cash   Book   Current    78-181 

Cash   Book   Posting    78 

Cash    Book    Permanent    80 

Cash    Book    Replenishing    80 


Page 

Cash    Book    Safety    81 

Cash   Book   Size   of   Leaf    ....  81 
Cash   Disbursement  Form    ...  82 

Cash    Journal    89-220 

Cash    Journal    Form    90-218 

Cash  Receipts  Form   82 

Cashier's    Check    Register....  118 
Certificate     of     Deposit    Reg- 
ister      119 

Changing  Indexing  Plans 121 

Check   Record   101 

Circularizing      Form      Trans- 
fers     41 

Claim    Records    183 

Club    Ledger 227 

Collection    Register    119 

Collection    Tickler    149-158 

Commission    Book    Receiving. 109 

Comparative    Sales    95 

Comparative   Statement    190 

Comptroller's  Voucher  196 

Computing    Machines    45-115 

Contents 5 

Daily   Balance   Book    121 

Daily    Balance    Book,    Patent 

Form    126 

Daily    Balance    Book    Patent. 124 
Daily        Statement       Balance 

Book 117 

Debtors'    Ledger    193 

Dentist's     Ledger     219 

Department   Sales    103-231 

Department    Sales    Form 232 

Detail    Sheet    209 

Discount   Ledger    (form)    121 

Discount    Register    119 

Distribution 67 

Distribution  Account   63 

Dividing   Alphabet    52 

Doctor's    Ledger    217-218 

Double    Debit    Ruling    30 

Double-Double   Ruling   32 

Draft    Register    119 

Dry    Goods    House    212 

Durability   40 

Electric    Company    Books    ...139 

Emergency    Reports    183 

Estimate    Form     189 

Expansion    . ; 17 

Expiration  Record  Form.. 132-136 

Fire    Protection    Forms    136 

Foreign      Shipment     Register 

(form)    '. 226 

Foreign    Shipment    Register.. 227 


238 


LOOSE   LEAF   BOOK-KEEPING. 


Page 

Form    Book    185 

Forms,    Index   of    6 

Fraternal  Societies   134 

Freight    Traffic    Record    182 

Fuel    Books    183 

Gas  Light  Company  Books... 141 

General   Ledger    60-116-158-181 

Grain   Elevator   Sheet    108 

Hospital    Reports    183 

Hotel   Guest   Ledger    221 

How  to  Make  Money  214 

Indexing 47 

Indexing    Account   Number...  53 

Indexing    Alphabetical    49 

Indexing    Days    of    Week 60 

Indexing  Geographical   Divis- 
ions     60 

Indexing    Numerical    56 

Indexing    Railway    Routes 60 

Indexing  Salesmen's  Routes.  60 
Indexing  Salesmen's  Names.  60 
Indexing  State  Customers 

Alphabetical    59 

Indexing  by  State  and  Town  57 
Indexing  Sundry  Accounts..  61 

Indexing   Transfers    50 

Index  Written   Unnecessary..  30 

Individual  Leaf   36 

Individual    Ledger    116 

Inspection    Reports    137 

Installment    Business    Books. 144 

Insurance    128 

Insurance,    Fire    Agencies    ...135 

Insurance,    Industrial    133 

Interest    Book    122 

Introductory 3 

Journal    86 

Journal     Binder     89 

Journal   Columnar   88 

Journal     Current     88 

Journal   Permanen  t    89 

Keg   Beer    Books    179 

Land    Department    183 

Lawyer's    Docket    219 

Lawyer's   Ledger    158-159 

Ledger,    How    to    Open    16 

Ledger,     How     to    Use 16 

Ledger    Forms    (Commercial) 

25-27-29-31-33-35-37-39-232 

Legality   10-211 

Ledger  Forms,  Bank.. 116-117-118 
Ledger  Forms,  Gas  Light 

Company    142 

Ledger       Forms,      Telephone 

Company    140 

Ledger     Forms,   Water   Com- 
pany    138 

Ledger,   Secret  Society  Form. 102 

Ledgers   in   Series    44 

Ledgers,     Installment     146 


Page 

Lexicon    Plan    L2 

Life    Insurance    Accounting.  .130 

License    Book    199 

Lumber    Call    Book    188 

Lumber    Call    Book    Form 189 

Lumber    Business    187 

Mail    Copying    Record    183 

Mail    Order   Department    157 

Maintainance    of    Way    1^ 

Manufacturing  Plants    172 

Master       Mechanic       Depart- 
ment  , 1S5 

Memorandum  and  Credit  Sys- 
tem    I'OS 

Mileage  Record :.    ...182 

Minute  Book 115-184 

Municipal     Books     1S1 

Newspaper  Advertising 

Ledger     (form)     228 

Newspaper    Book-keeping    ...229 

Note    Record    14 

Note    Register    Form    V20 

Note  Tickler 119 

Numbered    Accounts    23 

Number        of       Accounts      to 

Binder    40 

Numbering    Binders 40 

Odds   and  Ends   211 

Official  Orders  184 

Old   Ledgers   to  Close  Out....  20 

One  Account  to  Leaf  62 

Opening  Loose  Leaf  Ledgers  19 
Opening  New  Accounts  — 22-49 
Opening  A  Transfer  Binder. 233 

Order    Binder    10 

Order    Blank    System 87-153 

Patented    Devices    15-124 

Pay  Roll   Books 95-149-184 

Peculiar    Ledger     230 

Peculiar   Ledger   Form    232 

Perfect    Index    „...  48 

Perfect    Service     14 

Perpetual  Invoice  FiMng  Sys- 
tem     171-222 

Perpetual   Trial   Balance    

97-149-158 

Perpetuity   18 

Petty  Accounts   34 

Petty     Card    Ledger     36 

Petty   Ledger  Accounts    3S 

Photographers    233 

Physician's    Ledger    217-218 

Piano    Rent    Contract    105 

Policy    Record    Form    132 

Post    Binders     92-210 

Posting   Chqck    :"1 

Pound    Keeepers'    Books    199 

Prejudice         Against         Cash 
Book ...76 


LOOSE    LEAF    BOOK-KEEPING. 


239 


Page 

Price    Books     155-184 

Private    Ledger     158-174 

Private    Locks    233 

Profit  and  Loss  Register  and 

Form 230 

Proving    Postings    45 

Punching    Leaves    93 

Purchase    Ledger     87-99-174 

Purchase    Ledger   Account. 43-170 

Purchase!  Record    99-148-169 

Purchase   Record   Form 94 

Quotation    Records    155 

Real    Estate     Book-keeping.. 231 
Real     Estate     Loan   Register 

(form)   228 

Real    Estate    Loan    Register.. 231 
Recapitulation    Books.  .149-158-160 
Recapitulation    of    Cash    En- 
tries  83 

Receiving    Book    Grain    108 

Receiving    Sheets    184-190 

Remittance    Register    119 

Repair    Department     185 

Requisition     System     155-184 

Retail    Business    Books 163 

Revenue    Account     196 

Rulings    ...     ^.6 

Rulings     to     Avoid     Carrying 

Forward 216 

Safe  Guard  System 28-236 

Sales    Ledger    Account    43-158-174 

Sales  Record 95 

Sales    Record    Form     94-117 

Savings     Banks     117 

Saving    Paper    85 

Saving    Time    51 

Sectional    Post    Binder    ....92-210 

Secret    Society   Ledger 102-104 

Seed   Distribution   Form    ..'...100 

Sefed   Issue  Book 106 

Self  Indexing  Ledger   48 

Separate    Leaf    16-17 

Series   of  Ledgers    44 

Sheet   Number   Use    43 

Short    Leaf    223 

Special    Assessment    Ledger.. 194 
Special    Assessment    Warrant 

Form    195 

Special   Assessment  Warrant  196 

Special   Books 92-123 

Special    Ledger    181 

Special    Columns 


Page 
Speed    in    Statement   Making   42 

Splitting  Transfers   41 

Spring  Back  Holder    93 

Statements 42-200 

States  Alphabetical    58 

Statement    Ledger    164 

Stock  Book 

96-155-161-181-184-198 

Stock    Brokers    137 

Stock    Ledger 115-149-158-174 

Storehouse   Books    183 

Street    Railway    Companies.  .183 

Sub-A.gency    Reports 131 

Substitute    for  Transfers     41 

Sundry   Accounts    34 

Suspense    Ledger    ..149-158 

Systematizing    Departments..  21 

Tax    Record    182 

Telegraph   Books    139-183 

Telephone    Books    139 

Telephone    Register    (form)... 177 

Test    of    Time    227 

Ticket    Issue    Record    181 

Time    Books    149-185 

Time  Recording  Clocks 175 

Town    Index    Tabs    58 

Track  Records    182 

Traffic    Record    181 

Transfer  Binders   11-92-210 

Transferring,  Where  20-23-91 

Transfer   Index   Card    (form). 224 
Transportation    Company 

Books 180 

Trust   Companies 114 

Tumble   Form    236 

United    States    Government..  113 
Uses    of    Loose-Leaf    Books.. 236 

Variation  of  Ruling  38 

Vertical    Filing    Case    41-167 

Voucher    Binder   Permanent..  64 

Voucher   Record    64 

Voucher  Register  Form.. 72-73-173 

Voucher   Sheer   71 

Voucher    System    63-174 

Ware   House   Records    96 

Warrants    Register    194 

Weight   of   Paper   212 

When    to    Transfer    20 

Wholesale   Business   152 

Wholesale  Order  Form   234 

Wholesale    Order    Form    (de- 
scribed)    235 


SEP 


JUN1  5 


